Dana's Choice
by easyqueenie
Summary: "I have so much fight left in me Mulder. These men that have done this to me, to all those other women, they have to be stopped and I want to be the one that does it." "At what cost?" Mulder asked her quietly. Scully seemed to think about it for a while. "At any cost," she replied finally.
1. PROLOGUE: The Landscape is Changing

**Author's Note:**

_**_**Set immediately after Je Souhaite and moves to a parallel universe where the events of Requiem onwards never took place. Spoilers for anything prior to that. **_This is my first attempt at writing something non-fluffy and much longer than my usual two or three chapter work; I hope you'll stick with me. All feedback is appreciated, especially constructive criticism as I'm hoping to write a book soon and would love some comments on my writing style.**_

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><p><em><strong>PROLOGUE:<strong>_

Mulder awoke to see Scully fast asleep beside him and smiled. She always looked so peaceful when she slept, it was the only time she seemed fully able to let go of the horrors of their waking lives. He slipped out of bed and crept quietly out of his bedroom and out to the kitchen to start making breakfast. As he whipped up a fresh batch of pancake batter, his thoughts returned to the previous night. The incident with the jinniyah had got him thinking about wishes and about what he wished for the future. He regretted not being able to wish a happy future for Scully but knowing what happened to all the other wishes, it would not have ended well. A noise behind him alerted him to Scully's arrival in the kitchen. She smiled sleepily at him as she rummaged in the cupboard for glasses and began pouring out two glasses of juice, flicking the kettle on as she passed. They didn't feel the need to speak; since they had finally accepted the inevitable and given in to their feelings for one another they felt totally comfortable in each other's company, able to enjoy the silences as much as the conversations.

As they sat at the table, Mulder passed Scully a plate stacked with pancakes which she set about drowning in maple syrup, much to his amusement. They ate quickly, the quiet broken only by Scully's occasional bouts of giggling brought on by Mulder pulling faces at her across the table.

"Quit it Mulder!" she whined at him after almost spitting half a pancake at him for the fifth time.

"Spoilsport" he retorted, sticking his bottom lip out and earning him a roll of the eyes as she slowly shook her head. "You love it really." She ignored him.

"So what are we doing with this precious Saturday?" she asked, "I refuse to work."

"Well I read on the internet about a series of unusual UFO sightings near the Appalachians" he began but the look on her face cut him off, "I'm kidding! I need to go to the mall actually, the fish tank needs a new filter and I really need new socks."

"That works for me," Scully replied. "It's my nephew's birthday next weekend and I need to buy him a..." but she never reached the end of her sentence. Mulder was staring at her, a look of fear intermixed with mild horror on his face. "Mulder what is it?" she asked quietly, worried that she already knew. Mulder's hand moved just under his nose almost involuntarily and she copied the action, bringing her hand away to see it stained bright red with blood.


	2. A New Option

**THREE MONTHS LATER**

Mulder knocked twice on the door and entered the hospital room. Scully looked at him from her bed and smiled weakly. Her face was pale, her features faint, Mulder felt that she had literally faded away over the past months and the speed at which the changes had occurred scared him more than any case he had ever investigated. He smiled back at her, trying to keep the fear from showing on his face; he had just finished talking with her doctor and the news wasn't good. The treatment they had been trying as a last resort hadn't had any effect, there was nothing else left to try and so now they would have to hope for a miracle. Maggie had been with him listening to the prognosis but had stepped outside, unable to face her daughter for a few moments until she had composed herself.

"Hey gorgeous" Mulder said, smiling back at her, knowing she was reading every minute detail of his expression.

"No need to lie," she croaked quietly.

"You'll always be gorgeous to me," he told her firmly, trying to think how to break the news.

"It's OK" she whispered, "I already know it's not worked, I'd be able to feel if it had. It's OK."

"No it's not," Mulder snapped back, instantly regretting his tone. "You being sick will never be OK. I'll find a cure Scully, I did it before and God help me I'll do it again."

"Mulder... Fox, it's OK. I don't hate you because you can't help. I never expected you to. You've already done more than any normal person would or could have managed. Now I just want to enjoy spending the time I have left with you and I can't do that if you're forever running around trying to find some impossible cure.'"

Mulder tried to find an argument but instead closed his eyes and tried to let the acceptance wash over him, if Scully was going to be taken away from him, he was going to make their time together as special as possible.

...

One month later Mulder rushed through the hospital corridors, barely acknowledging the faces that had grown so familiar over the past months. He arrived at Scully's door, knocked once and opened the door without waiting for a response. A doctor he didn't recognise was sat at Scully's bedside, leaning close and talking in an undertone. The doctor looked young and attractive, in Mulder's mind too young to have enough training or experience, instead he looked like a Hollywood approximation of a doctor rather than the real deal. As soon as he spotted Mulder he silenced himself and stood up.

"Mr Mulder?" he asked, extending his hand. Mulder returned the gesture and nodded curtly. "I'm Dr Carlisle, my apologies, I was just leaving."

The doctor turned back to Scully who had become so pale that she almost blended in with the off white hospital sheets, "You'll think about what I said?" he murmured. Scully nodded, she looked deep in thought and Mulder thought he detected a hint of fear in her eyes. The doctor smiled and Mulder noted his perfect teeth as he exited the room. Mulder walked around the bed and sat down in the chair that the doctor had just vacated, if he had been paying attention to anything other than Scully, he might even have picked up on what was wrong with it.

"Hey, what was that about?" he asked, indicating where the doctor had just exited. Scully was quiet for a moment.

"Do you trust me?" she whispered.

"What? Yes, of course I trust you." Mulder replied, thoroughly confused. "Why?"

"Dr Carlisle thinks that there might be an avenue of treatment we haven't explored yet."

"Dana, no. Remember our rule, we don't deal with doctors that the Gunmen haven't run background checks on."

"Look at me!" she hissed, "do you think it matters anymore? I've got days, Fox, and that's the best case scenario." Mulder recoiled slightly as her words hit him.

"Don't say things like that," he said quietly.

"You know it's true," she replied, smiling sadly. Mulder swallowed hard.

"What is this new treatment?" he asked, his brow furrowing in concern as Scully looked away.

"I can't tell you, that's why you have to trust me."

"What? Why the hell not? Jesus, Scully you can trust me, can't you? After everything we've been through together."

"It's not my choice, I'd tell you if I could, surely you know that?" Mulder just stared at her.

"You think it could work?"

"Yes, I think so" she seemed hesitant, "but there are side effects and I'm not sure I can face them."

"What kind of side effects?" Scully just looked at him sadly.

"I can't tell you. They'll be obvious if the treatment works."

"Obvious? Are we talking about something permanent?"

"Yes, as permanent as it is possible for them to be. My whole life would change."

"You're scaring me Dana."

"I'm scaring myself."

"Then don't do it."

"You think I can just turn away from something that could allow me to carry on? To continue to work against the evil we've seen in the world? Could even give me an advantage over it?" She froze, seemingly having said too much. Mulder just stared at her in shock. "I have so much fight left in me Mulder. These men that have done this to me, to all those other women, they have to be stopped and I want to be the one that does it."

"At what cost?" Mulder asked her quietly. Scully seemed to think about it for a while.

"At any cost," she replied finally.


	3. The Death of Dana Scully

_The Next Day_

Mulder sat on the blue plastic chair in the hospital corridor. Beside him, Maggie was trembling, silent sobs racking her body. He desperately wanted to reach out and comfort her but didn't know how, his own fear about the unidentified procedure that his partner had opted to take almost paralysing him. Inside Scully's hospital room, unaware of the silent vigil taking place outside, Dr Carlisle bent down next to her and took a deep breath to calm his own jagged nerves before he began. The procedure hadn't been authorised by the hospital, in fact nobody except Mulder, Scully, Maggie and the doctor even knew what was happening. Dr Carlisle had assured Mulder and Maggie that it would not interfere with any of the other treatments Scully was receiving, but he and Dana had both requested that it take place in private, behind closed doors.

An alarm sounded and Mulder realised in one heart stopping moment that it was coming from Scully's room. He leapt to his feet just as the door swung open and Dr Carlisle appeared.

"She's gone into shock, we're losing her," he said, not managing to get another word out as Mulder and Maggie shot past him and into the room. Scully was still lying on the bed, her eyes closed, looking exactly as she had when Mulder had left five minutes previously, except that now she was completely unresponsive. Lights were blinking furiously all around and several different buzzing noises were sounding from the various machines surrounding the bed.

"What the hell have you done to her?" Mulder demanded, rounding on Dr Carlisle.

"Nothing, we hadn't even started," he replied as half a dozen nurses and the attending physician descended on the room, surrounding Scully and blocking her from Mulder's view. Mulder gave the doctor one last skeptical look before turning back to her and squeezing in beside Maggie who had grabbed hold of her daughter's hand and was screaming frantically.

"Don't you dare die on me Dana, you hear me? You keep fighting, you're my fighter, don't you dare give up now!" Mulder felt the world slow down around him as the medical staff fought desperately to keep Scully alive.

"What's happening?" a senior nurse demanded.

"I can't tell," the attending barked back at her, "her entire body has gone into severe shock, heartbeat is erratic and weakening. I can't find a cause but she's dying, it's almost as if someone poisoned her."

Mulder spun around to look for Dr Carlisle but the place where he had stood was empty. He thought for a few moments about running out of the room to find him, cursing his decision not to have the Gunmen check up on this mysterious new doctor who had appeared from nowhere but he didn't dare risk leaving the room. As he stood staring at the door, he became aware that he must have been standing there for quite some time; he noticed the nurses on the far side of the bed stepping away and turned to see the attending close his eyes and exhale heavily before turning to Maggie.

"I'm sorry," he told her, and Mulder stepped forward, just in time to help a male nurse catch Maggie as she collapsed, feeling his own knees give way too. He looked up at the attending, feeling the hot sting of tears in his eyes as his chest constricted and his muscles began to shake.

"Please, you have to keep trying, there must be something more you can do?" Maggie was pleading.

"I'm sorry, there's no brain activity and she has been in asystole for several minutes now, she's gone," the attending told them, he seemed genuinely devastated to be breaking their hearts.

Mulder couldn't process what he was hearing. He stood up, leaving Maggie sobbing into the arms of the nurse, and stared at Scully. She couldn't be dead, it was impossible. He reached forward and took ahold of her hand, she still felt warm and soft, not like the dead he had dealt with for so many years. He held the back of a trembling hand over her nose and mouth but felt no air wash over it, placed fingers on her neck but felt no pulse. The monitors continued to drone in the background of his mind, their sirens long since shut off. He just stared at her face, trying to remember every last line, every minuscule pore, every strand of hair and the exact way the light bounced from it. He had only just begun to see her true beauty. The only benefit of his unsolicited brain surgery was when he had awoken to a world filled with shocking new colours, reds and greens distinguishable to his eyes for the first time. He had been mesmerised by Scully's hair that day, finally able to see the fiery beauty that had been shielded from him for so many years. Now he stared at it again, trying to remember the exact shade of every line. Eventually he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see the attending who had pronounced the woman he loved more than anything in the world dead, standing before him.

"Take all the time you need," the man said softly, he was obviously accustomed to this kind of speech "when you're ready, one of the nurses will take her, she'll be well cared for, don't worry."

Mulder nodded dumbly; he turned and fled the room without warning, unable to look back as he knew he would never be able to turn away from her with the knowledge that it would be the last time he would see her face.

He walked down the corridor without thinking, without a destination in his mind, he just walked. He wondered vaguely where Maggie was now, had she still been in the room when he had fled? Was she still on the floor, or sat hunched over her daughter's body, unable to tear herself away and accept that her family had once again been torn apart and she was now without any daughters at all? Images of Scully's brothers flashed briefly before his eyes. Bill was stuck out somewhere on an ocean, he'd been trying in vain to be granted emergency shore leave since Dana's condition had deteriorated but had been denied due to his seniority, he had been needed too urgently on board ship. Charlie was somewhere in mid-flight, due to land in DC within the hour. No one had expected this sudden change, Mulder hoped he didn't have to be the one to break the news to him, how do you tell a man that his sister is dead when you can't bring yourself to believe it's true? Mulder stopped and realised he had walked to a waiting area near Scully's hospital room, he must have walked a circuit around the entire building. He sat down and stared at the wall opposite, listening to the canned laughter emitting from a TV in the nurses' station. Shortly, he became aware of someone stood next to him and looked up to see the attending from Scully's room.

"Mr Mulder?" he asked, Mulder nodded silently. "The nurse found this on Dana's pillow, her mother believes it is for you."

The attending handed Mulder a piece of paper. On it, in his partner's handwriting, was a note.

"_I know what's about to happen. Trust me."_


	4. Let Her Rest In Peace

_The next day_

"Agent Mulder sit down!" hissed Assistant Director Skinner. Mulder glared at him from across the office, where he had been striding back and forth for the past several minutes, before crossing back to the desk and sitting down on one of the chairs, trying in vain to ignore the vacant seat beside him. He folded his arms and legs and continued to stare at the A.D.

"I know you're angry and upset," Skinner began, ignoring the indignant huff from Mulder, "but trying to convince yourself that Scully," he hesitated, "that Dana is still alive is only going to hurt you and hurt her family."

"She is still alive," Mulder insisted. "That note she left, she knew something was going to happen."

"I can't pretend to understand what Dana wrote down, but I can assure you," Skinner swallowed hard and seemed to struggle with his words "that Dana died yesterday."

"It's not her," Mulder shouted, "she's secretly still alive or they replaced her somehow."

"Mulder, I did as you asked, I sent one of the Bureau's best doctors out to the hospital and they checked her. There is no brain activity, no heartbeat, there is nothing. And it is definitely her, I had her fingerprints run against her FBI records and I even had her dental records checked. I swear to you Mulder, that is Dana." Mulder just sat shaking his head.

"I refuse to accept that," he said quietly. Skinner looked at his hands.

"You think I want to accept it?" he asked. Mulder looked at him. "Dana was a very special person to me as well, she is... was, one of the few agents I considered among my friends, rather than just a colleague. She will be missed so much here, Mulder. When you came to me this morning I wanted to believe you, wanted to believe that she isn't really gone, but she is."

"What if she's a clone?" Mulder asked. It was his last hope.

"As a precaution, I got the Bureau doctor to take a blood sample," Skinner began.

"What? If she had been a clone then exposure to her blood could have killed the doctor," Mulder shouted back.

"I was convinced by then she wasn't a clone," Skinner continued, ignoring Mulder's outburst. "And the doctor reported nothing unusual about the blood, barring a slightly higher than normal white blood cell count so I think that I was safe in my assumption."

Mulder slumped back into his chair, despair washing over him again. Since being handed the note he had leapt into action, believing that Scully was somehow alive somewhere. Skinner's news made him feel like he was losing her all over again.

"I still want that Doctor Carlisle investigated," he told Skinner.

"I'd just got off the phone with the hospital when you arrived," he began but a knock at the door followed by it bursting open cut him off. The Gunmen trooped in, doing their best to look inconspicuous but failing. Byers hung back slightly with Langley whilst Frohike crossed the room to Mulder and attempted to hug him as he sat in his chair.

"Way to make this more awkward" Langley sniped.

"Shut up hippy," Frohike retorted without looking at him. Byers turned to Skinner and shook his hand.

"We did a little digging on this Dr Carlisle character," he told Skinner and Mulder after Frohike had released the latter from his hug.

"And?" Mulder demanded.

"Well we found him, which surprised us to begin with" Langley butted in, "he has a record at the hospital. Next of kin, address, phone number are all totally normal. I pulled his DMV records too, and they list a nice address, nothing suspicious whatsoever."

"Do we know if he's even a doctor?" Mulder asked.

"Well that's where it gets interesting," replied Byers. "I decided to try a different approach and called the hospital, pulled the old 'journalist wanting to write a fluff piece on community heroes' line. The staff all love him. Wonderful reputation, he's worked at the hospital for five years now, they believe he's married with a couple of older kids, pictures on his desk, only odd thing is that the family isn't seen much but they live a way out of town so not that odd considering. He's got a list of qualifications that could put him into any of the top medical establishments in the world, specialises in hematology and is a recognised expert on poisons. Generally very well liked and respected, they all seemed delighted he'd be getting some public recognition as he's very quiet and reserved."

"Where is he now?" Mulder asked.

"At work, he came in as normal," Byers replied.

"What, he hasn't run?" Mulder asked, but Skinner cut in.

"He has nothing to run from Mulder. I had an agent speak to him today and he told me exactly the same thing he told you yesterday, they hadn't even begun the procedure when Dana went into shock and died. There was nothing he could do."

"Why did he leave the room so fast?" Mulder questioned.

"He was bleeped down to the ER for a suspected poisoning in a child, the hospital's records confirm it."

"Did the agent ask what this experimental procedure was that he wanted to try out?"

"Yes, but he declined to answer as it pertains to some private research he's conducting. As there is no evidence to say he so much as touched Dana we can't demand he release that information. I had the doctor who examined Dana check her all over for any signs of foul play and there is nothing to conclude that Dr Carlisle is lying. As far as both the Bureau and the hospital is concerned, Dr Carlisle did nothing except speak to Dana."

Mulder remained in his seat, staring at a point somewhere in the distance. The Gunmen and Skinner looked at each other warily, then Byers stepped forward and crouched beside Mulder.

"We're so sorry, there's nothing left to do except let her rest in peace." he whispered. Mulder didn't make eye contact, he just nodded vaguely and let the hot tears wash over him again.

_Hope you're enjoying it so far. It's about to get a lot more action packed and I doubt we've seen the last of Dana Scully! Would really love some feedback, criticism welcome!_


	5. The Doctor's Demise

**SIX MONTHS LATER**

In an apartment somewhere in one of the nicer parts of Washington DC, a man sat slumped in his favourite comfy chair, his shirt was untucked and his tie hung loosely around his neck. His right arm dangled over the chair's, a glass of red wine in his hand. He was deep in thought, considering once again the note he had received earlier that week. He had found it on his nightstand when he had awoken that morning and that fact alone had greatly concerned him as he had been certain it was not there when he had taken himself to bed the previous night. On opening it, his concern had turned to fear and he had immediately picked up the phone and dialled his superiors.

"I have just received a note," he explained down the line, "someone has been inside my apartment as I slept and left it for me."

"What does it say?" the voice at the end of the line had asked him.

"Death is coming," the man replied.

Since then a guard had been placed outside his building and a bodyguard assigned to him throughout the day. He had received no more notes and nothing else unusual had occurred around him. He would have been inclined to consider the note to be a joke in incredibly poor taste, were it not for the unusual method of its arrival. Whoever had delivered the note had managed to get in and out of his apartment without leave any trace; no doors or windows had been damaged and there were no prints or fibres to be found, his whole apartment had been swept and it was clean. That meant that he couldn't entirely put the note out of his mind.

The man swirled the wine around his glass and took another sip. Whoever had sent the note didn't seem to be making a move any time soon. He couldn't even be sure that it was a death threat, it could just be some nut who had found out a little too much about his current work. If that was the case then his associates would be on the case and the guy wouldn't be around to send creepy notes much longer. He heard a creak behind him and turned to look around, there was nothing in the kitchen, the note was making him paranoid. He shook his head and turned back around in his seat. He should really go to bed. A tiny hint of movement caused him to look up, and his breath caught in his throat. A woman stood before him, she looked completely relaxed and appeared unarmed. She wore tight jeans and a green fitted top that left no place in which she could conceal a weapon. She was incredibly beautiful, he would have considered her a supermodel if he had seen her on the street. Her skin was as flawless as porcelain, her hair long, wavy and deep red, her eyes, well he must be mistaken. In the dull subtle light of the fake fire, her eyes seemed to be sparkling red. He didn't know how she had entered the room without his hearing, after all he had wooden floors that usually magnified any noise tenfold. She continued to look at him in silence as he tried to read her expression, it appeared a mixture of anger, hatred and a disturbing shadow of lust.

"I don't know why you're here but if you've come to kill me, it won't work. There are men out in the hallway who will burst through that door the moment I press this." He indicated a small panic button concealed in his left hand. The woman shrugged.

"By the time they get in here it will be too late, you'll be dead and I'll be gone," she told him calmly. Her voice was soft and almost musical. It stunned him just as much as her beauty had.

"Who are you?" he asked, unnerved by her calm acceptance of his threats.

"Someone you once wronged greatly," she announced, the red flicker in her eyes growing.

"That could be a lot of people," the man said, "comes with the job."

"You don't claim ignorance of what you did then? You accept the evil you participated in as necessary?"

"It was necessary," he told her.

"Then you accept your fate," she replied. "Perhaps you should try for some regret, some remorse."

"I have no regrets," he said. "The work I do is for the good of the American public."

"Who decides that?" she asked, growing angry.

"Men who know more than you or I. The right men, who will make the right choices."

"Choices that turn the public into lab rats to be experimented on without their knowledge or consent?" she spat. "Choice that steal away women's lives, give them terrible diseases AND steal their unborn children?"

"It is unfortunate," the man said, "but I have no qualms about the work I did, the work I continue to do. Even if you kill me tonight, there are others who will continue."

"They will be eliminated in due course," the woman smiled now, it made her look even more dangerous and the man flinched slightly without meaning to.

"You'll be eliminated first, you won't have the chance to do enough damage in order to stop them. They're too powerful."

"They don't stand a chance against us, " she smiled again. "Do you want to ask for forgiveness?"

"There is nothing I have done that requires it," he said. "I told you, I have no regrets."

"That will make this easier then," she sighed. His thumb hovered over the panic button, watching for the first hint of movement, but he never had chance to press it. Before his brain had chance to register her first move, the woman was upon him and all he could think of was pain.


	6. Mulder on the Case

**_(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yay, my beta reader is back from vacation so I can finally update this. Here's where it all really starts to get interesting...)_**

_The next morning_

"Agent Mulder, please take a seat," said A.D. Skinner standing up and indicating the two chairs before his desk as Mulder closed the door to the office. Mulder crossed the room and sat down, doing his best to ignore the vacant seat beside him. Anything that reminded him of the emptiness in his life since Scully's death still caused painful pangs in his chest. He turned his chair fractionally away from the other, it was barely noticeable but the subtle action was not missed by Skinner.

"How are you?" he asked. Mulder shrugged.

"Coping," he replied.

"I'm very happy to see that your work has seen a bit of an upturn in quality the last month or so," Mulder nodded. "Do you think the counselling sessions are helping?"

"I suppose a little," Mulder replied, he wanted to be honest but felt a little uncomfortable with the subject, "I still miss her every second though, especially when I see something that reminds me..." he trailed off as he indicated the vacant chair. Skinned nodded silently, unsure of what to say in reply, eventually Mulder shifted slightly in his seat, beginning to feel uncomfortable and after a few more long moments he cleared his throat.

"I'm sorry sir, but was that all?" he asked. He had no real desire to get back to his office as all he had been doing was reading through a stack of old case reports, attempting futilely to regain some of his old enthusiasm for the x-files that had seemingly died along with his partner. However, at the same time, he didn't especially want to spend much longer sat in this chair discussing his feelings with his superior. Skinner regarded him for another short moment, then shook his head.

"No, a file crossed my desk this morning that I believe will be of interest to you, I just wanted to have a talk with you first before I showed you." Mulder sat up a little straighter.

"Do you think it's an X-File?"

"It has certain unexplained aspects yes, but I think you'll find more of interest that just those elements," Skinner paused, he had Mulder intrigued now.

"Then what?" Skinner pushed a folder over to him which he flipped open and glanced over.

"A murder?"

"Dr Scanlon was found dead in his apartment this morning. Does that name mean anything to you?" Mulder's head snapped up.

"He was the doctor who treated Scully's cancer. We found his name in that research facility. Wasn't he on the list of doctors employed by the shadow government to perform the experiments on women?"

"I have reason to believe so," Skinner replied. "He had bodyguards in the corridor outside his apartment and a panic button in his hand which was never activated. The police have found no trace evidence anywhere and CCTV footage shows no one entering or leaving the apartment."

"Suicide?"

"No, the manner in which he died would make that an impossibility."

"And that would be?"

"He was completely drained of blood," Skinner said, looking rather disgusted at the thought.

"And there was no trace evidence?" Mulder questioned again, Skinner shook his head. "That would be nearly impossibly to achieve without leaving some evidence behind," he said, talking aloud to himself more than to Skinner, "not to mention that the attack must have happened extremely quickly if he didn't have chance to push a panic button that was in his hand at the time."

"Do you have any thoughts?" Skinner asked, sensing that he wouldn't like Mulder's response.

"Well," Mulder said slowly, gathering his thoughts, "it sounds like a vampire attack to me." Skinner just stared at him.


	7. Spender's Concerns

_Later that afternoon..._

CGB Spender hung his coat on the hook and dropped a new packet of Morleys onto the table in the annex of his office. He strode purposefully across the small room and into his office, closing the door with a resounding thump,. He flicked through the stack of memos and letters he had just been handed as he made his way to the large desk in the centre of the room and sat down gratefully in his leather chair, happy to have the weight off his feet. The name "Scanlon" jumped out at him from the stack of papers and he pulled that sheet to the top of the pile and sat with his brow furrowed, reading through it. The death of Dr Scanlon concerned him greatly; not that he felt anything for the man - although the manner of his death was unnecessarily messy. What concerned him was that this had caught him by suprise, and that was unacceptable. Spender was used to being aware of all the ins and outs of the Syndicate's business especially since he had rebuilt it from the ruins of El Rico. Scanlon had immediately made him aware of the note he had received and Spender had set his best men to discovering its source but so far they had drawn a blank; now the others were nervous, causing them to breathe even harder down his neck than usual.

He re-read the description of Scanlon's death once more. Naturally he was aware of the presence of several vampire groups in the DC region, however this would be a bold move from any of them. They were all capable of such an attack of course, however to do so in such an obvious way, and against someone with well-known top level government connections at that, was out of character. The vampire population was secretive and had reached an unspoken agreement with those who knew of their existence, they would keep out of the sight and mind of the public in exchange for being left alone. Why break form now?

There was a chance that this was a random attack, a rogue vampire just out for the kill, it had happened plenty of times before; but something didn't fit with that assessment. Usually such cases were not restricted to an individual, an entire building would often be attacked, the bodyguards in the corridor at least would have been fair game being so close to the kill site. Also the note ruled such a possibility out in his mind, rogues never pre-meditated their kills in that way, they were instinctive.

What then? It might not be a vampire attack at all, but all the clues suggested that it was. The only entry to the room that wasn't covered by the CCTV cameras was the balcony, but at 23 stories up and with no fire escapes that weren't on camera, entry by a human would be nigh on impossible. A new group then, one who didn't know or choose to play by the rules - either that or they had recently decided to stop and try out a new tactic. If that was true then Spender was faced with a dangerous situation. Impervious to blades and bullets, exceptionally strong and fast, you'd be lucky to get close enough to a vampire to try anything before they killed you. Then of course there was the vampire's bite; they could choose to impart a small quantity of venom that would cause their victim indescribable pain, enough to shut down all your senses and prevent any hope of fighting back. Spender suppressed a shudder at the thought, few things scared him these days, but he had heard the tales of the pain caused by vampire venom during an attack and had no wish to discover it for himself.

Spender pulled himself out of his chair and strolled back into the entrance annex of his office in search of the fresh pack of Morley's he had left on the desk there. He was unlikely to reach any important conclusions so close to the day's end, he may as well quit and head home for the night, perhaps some stroke of genius would strike in the morning.

He reached the desk and froze as he spotted the note lying upon it, it had definitely not been there earlier when he had dropped the cigarettes there. Picking it up, he read it carefully, knowing what it would say.

_Death is coming_


	8. The Gunmen's Analysis

Mulder knocked on the door to the Lone Gunmen's offices and waited as usual while the multiple bolts and locks were undone until the door eventually opened and Byers was standing before him, seemingly surprised to see him there.

"Hey Mulder," called Frohike, from inside as he spotted Mulder at the door, "What's up? Come to sample my famous chili?"

"No thanks, I value my digestive system too much," Mulder replied as he walked into the room and the smell of the chilli assaulted his senses.

"Your loss," Frohike called, as he vanished back into the kitchen.

"So what can we do for you Mulder?" asked Byers, "We don't see you around here much these days."

"I'm actually working on a murder case Skinner gave to me" Mulder announced, causing all the Gunmen to stop what they were doing and turn to him, Frohike's head reappearing around the door frame.

"That's great," Byers said with a smile, "Is this your first assignment since..." he trailed off unsure how to end the sentence.

"Yeah, I've just not felt ready before now. Working without her was too lonely."

"What's changed?" asked Langley.

"The nature of the case," the guys looked interested, "Do you boys remember the name Scanlon?"

"Of course," Byers replied instantly, although Frohike & Langley looked less certain, "He was the doctor who briefly treated Scully's cancer, yes? Turned out to be working for a less than desirable branch of government."

"He was found murdered in his locked apartment last night."

"How?" asked Frohike, while Langley looked faintly ill.

"What do you know about vampires?" Mulder asked.

...

An hour later, Mulder found himself sat on one of the comfier couches in the living area of the Gunmen's place. They had just given him a fairly thorough rundown of the current vampire theories from the DC region and he had been rather surprised to learn that several family groups were believed to exist in secret within this city alone.

"Surely those in power can't be unaware of all this?" Mulder asked.

"Course not," Langley said through a mouthful of cheesecake, "They even use some of the lone wolf types for assassinations, or just to scare the living daylights out of anyone they want to keep quiet. Send a vampire to threaten their kids, if the fear of that threat alone isn't enough to do it, knowing that if you told anyone or tried to go for help they'd never even believe you, that's probably enough to keep you quiet don't you think? They're useful to the government, and the last thing Old Smoky and his lot want is a lot of angry vampires coming after them, they're virtually indestructible if the legends are true."

"You mean no," Mulder made a rapid stabbing movement at his heart, and Langley snorted a laugh and shook his head.

"Not a chance, skin's tough as nails, bulletproof even, plus you'd never get close enough to try it. They're fast, faster than an Olympic sprinter, the instant that they sensed what you were planning, well you'd be dead and they would be gone before you even got your weapon out."

"Some believe they have mild psychic abilities," Byers chipped in, "from our research it seems more likely that they're just highly sensitive to atmospheric conditions, body language, smell etc. Gives them a greatly heightened version of what so-called mind reading magicians do on stage. Of course if a human with some natural psychic ability was turned then that might become enhanced along with their other senses, but that's just speculation."

"So how come the public hasn't noticed if vampires are walking among us?" Mulder asked.

"They look normal, none of this shrivelling up or sparkling in the sun nonsense, that's just fiction. We've never actually seen one, not knowingly anyway, but all the stories say you wouldn't recognise them for what they truly are. They do have red eyes apparently, but since contact lenses were invented even that isn't obvious, that's why vampires have gone from being considered a "real" threat to becoming a myth in the past few hundred years, they can blend in perfectly now. They're not keen on the sun, they find it uncomfortable as they burn far easier than us, which explains the extreme paleness - they stay out of it whenever they can. If you want to avoid being killed by a vampire, move to the Bahamas. The only visual giveaways are how pale they are, and how beautiful."

"What?" Mulder asked, thinking he had misheard that last part, he had always imagined vampires to be old and slightly shrivelled, just as Bella Lugosi had portrayed Dracula.

"They're supposedly stunning, each one like a supermodel," Langley informed him with a slight smirk, "It's meant to be a predatory thing, makes it easy for them to lure you in. In fact one of our contacts had a theory not long ago that many of the major European fashion houses had started employing vamps as models." Mulder raised an eyebrow but Langley ignored him and continued. "No idea if any of it's true of course. We had bigger fish to report on, no time for heading over to Paris for fashion week."

"So the sunlight and stakes aren't true," Mulder thought aloud, counting the mythical weapons off on his fingers, "what about crosses, garlic, all that?"

"Seems like all that's made up too. Crosses are just religious dogma, stems from the clergy believing they were impervious to vampire attacks, nonsense of course, I'm sure a priest is just as tasty as anyone else. I imagine garlic would be pretty off putting if their sense of smell is as good as the rumours say, but that would be the same for any powerful smell."

"We'll be safe here then," said Mulder, crinkling his nose at the lingering chili smell, "there's no way a vampire would manage to endure this." Frohike glared at him while Mulder just grinned at his friend.

"So you really think this doc of yours was killed by a vampire?" Langley asked him.

"It certainly looks that way," Mulder replied. "I don't know of any other way a human could be drained of blood so completely and with no trace evidence at all." The Gunmen all shook their heads slowly as they ran the case details through their minds again.

"It's out of character for them to be this obvious, if they are involved," said Byers after a moment's pause. "This one is playing by their own rules."

"Great, so I appear to have a vampire on the loose in DC who doesn't seem to even want to play by the rules of his or her own society, let alone ours. Maybe I should go back to being a hermit in the basement," Mulder sighed.

"I sure hope you know what you're getting into Mulder," said Frohike.


	9. Hello Alex

Alex Krycek lay in bed, sweating profusely and breathing shallowly. He couldn't sleep, in all honesty he hadn't even tried. It had been 24 hours since he had discovered the note in his kitchen, less since he discovered that Dr Scanlon had died after receiving the same one. He knew the smoking bastard was saying less than he could, keeping secrets from him, but what else was new? After the guards stationed in the hallway had proved so ineffective at Scanlon's apartment, his own bodyguard sat in his living room guarding the one entrance to his bedroom. Judging by the noises coming from there, he was probably watching porn again. Krycek felt a little sick at the thought. He tried closing his eyes but sleep clearly wasn't coming so he switched his lamp back on and tried to concentrate on some documents he had been asked to read in preparation for hitting a new target in the morning.

A thump in the living room caught his attention and he looked up, straining to hear anything more. The noise of fake ecstasy was all that reached him, Krycek hated porn, it was all too phony when the real deal was out waiting for him on the street corner or in the secretarial offices of many of the men he worked for. He looked back down to the documents, trying hard to concentrate. Then he looked back up as a hint of movement caught his eye. He gasped in horror.

"Hello Alex," said the woman, her red eyes glowing slightly in the weak light of his lamp.

"No, it can't be, that's impossible," he choked. She simply smiled at him.

"I'd have thought so too not so long ago, but here we are."

"What are you doing here?" he half whispered, fearing that he might already know her answer.

"You didn't get my note?" she asked with a fake pout playing across her lips.

"That was from you?" he stammered, even though he'd known it must have been as soon as she appeared. She didn't answer but simply kept smiling. "You're here to kill me too?"

"Eventually."

"Why me? Surely there are others more... deserving?"

"Oh Alex, trying to palm me off with others? You always were a coward, at least Scanlon faced his death with dignity."

"That was you too?"

"Naturally."

"But why? Why me?"

"You killed them Alex. You tried to kill him too."

"Only on the old bastard's orders. I never wanted to kill them."

"You still did, that's what counts."

"So this is what, revenge?"

"Oh it's so much more than that Alex." He stared at her dumbly. "This is the end."

She sashayed forward toward the bed, her movements fluid, like a ballerina's. Krycek attempted to scramble backwards on his bed but he had nowhere to go. He cursed his decision to sleep naked as it now made him feel even more vulnerable. He watched her move toward him, hips swaying seductively, reminding him of an exotic dancer. Her long hair cascaded down and she twirled some of it around her fingers absent-mindedly, her eyes closed. He considered running but if she really was what he suspected, and he had some prior experience to draw upon, then it would do no good. He thought about the bodyguard in the living room, now certainly dead. Had his last act been watching some fake woman mime lewd actions on a screen whilst he salivated in front of it? What a way to go, he almost felt sorry for the guy. The woman reopened her eyes and looked at him. He tried to look away but the redness of her eyes drew him in, he couldn't look away.

"Oh Alex..." she breathed, "I've been waiting for this for so long." She climbed onto the bed and slithered up toward him, a look in her eyes that he had never seen on her before, it was a look that was close to lust but somehow wrong. He closed his eyes as she advanced, disorientated by the lack of heat from her body, the lack of air rushing to and from her lungs. He waited, expecting any moment to feel her lips on his, instead his eyes flew open as the pain hit him, shutting down his ability to think before he had a chance to scream.


	10. A Meeting Arranged

_Next morning_

Spender sat down at his desk hurriedly, picked up the phone and began dialling. He was worried now, truly worried. It had been two hours since he had learned of Alex Krycek's death late last night. When Alex's cell had gone unanswered three hours ago, Spender had sent two of his best men around to check up on him. They had found the bodyguard Spender had assigned to Alex, dead on the sofa, his neck broken and the television still switched on. Seconds later they discovered Alex dead, lying naked in his bed, completely drained of blood. It was obvious to Spender now that Scanlon's death was not just a random attack, his group was being targeted by an as yet faceless enemy and seeing as he had also been a recipient of one of the so far unidentified notes, whoever was behind this seemed unlikely to be stopping at the murder of Alex Krycek.

The phone at the other end of the line rang twice, then a man answered.

"Hello?"

"Alex Krycek is dead."

"My God, the same as Scanlon?"

"Yes."

"Had he also received a note?"

"Yes, as have I."

"You too?" He sighed, "it would appear none of us are immune."

"Have you also received one?"

"I discovered it this morning on my kitchen counter."

"I think we must assemble the group."

"Yes, I agree. I will make the necessary arrangements and be in contact," the line clicked dead. Spender placed the receiver back on its cradle and contemplated the note he had received once again. He would solve this quickly; Mulder was already poking his nose into dangerous places. Vampires were one of Spender's best kept secrets and most useful aides, he wanted a quick solution before Mulder had a chance to discover too much.


	11. Skinner Wants Answers

"He's waiting for you, you can go straight in," Holly told Mulder with a smile, as he entered the office annex on his way to see Skinner. Mulder returned the smile as he walked past her on his way into Skinner's office; he liked Holly a lot, she had been close to Scully ever since the incident with Robert Modell.

Holly had been very shaken up by what had happened, especially so soon after being mugged. The way Modell had impaired her judgment had affected her confidence, and word had reached Scully that Holly was even considering resigning. Scully had taken her out for a few drinks that Friday night and related some of her personal tales from working on the X-Files, including the times she had been fooled by various shape shifters pretending to be Mulder. That Scully could also be taken in by some of the people she had met through the years had reassured Holly that she wasn't the only one, that she wasn't somehow weak, and she had returned to work for Skinner with her confidence levels mostly restored the following Monday.

Since that time, the two women had become friends and although they never really did much together, Mulder often found Scully chatting away to Holly in the office annex whenever she had a spare moment. It had made him happy to see Scully fostering a friendship having always felt responsible for the lack of friends in her life. Holly had then gradually introduced Scully to a few other agents and admins who had, up until then, been unsure about striking up a conversation with her, considering her somewhat weird for choosing to spend her days with "spooky" Mulder. These new acquaintances and the opportunity to enjoy more normal conversations than the ones she endured with Mulder had made her happier and more relaxed in the last year or so of her life. In Mulder's mind they had also made her happy enough to open up more to him and given her the confidence to move her relationship with him on to the next level. For that fact alone, Mulder would always be grateful to Holly.

"Sit down Mulder," Skinner told him without looking up from the document that he was reading. Mulder made his way across the room and took his usual seat, somehow now he was so engrossed in this new case he barely even noticed the vacant chair beside him. Skinner looked up.

"Alex Krycek is dead," he said simply.

"What? Are you sure?" Mulder coughed out, taken aback by the news.

"I identified the body myself to be certain. The cause of death is the same as Dr Scanlon, with the same lack of evidence at the crime scene. We have nothing on the security cameras, no blood, prints or fibers in the apartment. It would appear we have a serial killer on the loose"

"I disagree with that assessment Sir," Mulder interrupted, "the details of their murders rule out a human killer." Skinner rolled his eyes but Mulder continued. "Exsanguination is an extremely uncommon cause of death, and it is notoriously messy when it is used. The results of the black light sweep of Dr Scanlon's apartment found no trace of blood so it hadn't been cleaned therefore suggesting that there was no blood spilled at any point during the murder. I believe that a vampire has to be responsible for these deaths. It's the only logical explanation."

"Are you seriously suggesting that Dr Scanlon and Alex Krycek were murdered by a vampire Agent Mulder?" demanded Skinner. "You realise I have people at the highest levels of government demanding answers on this and you expect me to go to them and say that I believe their people have been murdered by a mythical creature? Do you have any evidence to back this up?"

"The lack of evidence _is_ my evidence," Mulder replied.

"Dammit Mulder!" Skinner half shouted, standing up and pounding his fist down onto the desk, "I gave you this case because I believed you would want to find out the truth. These people were connected to Agent Scully's illness, if we can find out who killed them, then maybe we can find out some answers. Instead you want to talk about vampires and forget about finding the human killer responsible for this." The two men glared silently at one another.

"I need to see Krycek's apartment," Mulder said. Skinner breathed out heavily and sat down.

"Fine, his body has already been removed and an autopsy is scheduled for this afternoon. I will have the results sent to you once they reach me." Mulder nodded and stood up, heading for the door. "Agent Mulder?" Skinner called after him, "find the killer, you might find something to help Scully's memory rest a little more peacefully." Mulder didn't say anything but just walked out of the door and closed it behind him a little more firmly than he had intended.


	12. The End of All That

The double doors to the club's main meeting room swung open to admit a slightly dishevelled figure wearing a crumpled suit; he had the weary face of a man who had just travelled a long way at short notice. He looked around at the forty or so men and women gathered there and subconsciously attempted to smooth out some of the wrinkles in his jacket.

"Am I the last to arrive?" he asked without apology. Spender stepped forward from a small group stood huddled in the centre of the room and nodded curtly.

"Now that Dr Reynolds is here we can begin. You have all heard that Alex Krycek was found dead this morning?" Spender addressed the room. There was a general murmur of assent from all around. "Our group is being targeted. I have also received the same note that Krycek and Dr Scanlon received in the days before their deaths." He reached inside his jacket and withdrew the note from his pocket. All around him, the other assembled members began rummaging in pockets and purses, one by one they each drew out a note. Each was the same, the same three simple words written in an identical feminine, cursive script in the centre of the paper. There was a slight murmur of conversation as notes were shown around, whispered comparisons of when and where they had been received. Eventually all eyes turned back to Spender who had returned his own note back to his pocket. "Clearly we are all in danger," he told the room.

"Do we know the manner of the threat?" a crisp male voice asked, several heads turned to its source.

"We believe it to be vampire," Spender replied.

"Vampire?" exclaimed a woman on the other side of the room. "Why would they choose to attack us now? They have always chosen to remain neutral, or deigned to ally themselves with us for financial gain occasionally. They have no concerns for our politics, our plans."

"If they were to learn of the plans for colonisation, then they may not feel so neutral," the first man replied. Murmuring broke out again. "We do not know what the aliens' plans for their population would entail but we can be certain that the vampire population would not go down without fighting." There was a hum of concerned agreement.

"They could be a great ally," a second man suggested. "Have we tested a vampire in battle with one of the colonists?"

"If you can find me a vampire who would willingly walk into one of our research facilities then I will happily accept that pigs fly," the first man retorted, "they may not care for us or our plans but they know what we tried to do to them once. They would never ally themselves with a group who work hand in hand with the colonists; even if they were to survive colonisation their food source would be destroyed, tainted with alien DNA. Not all are content to live off animals."

"How then, do you feel we should proceed?" Spender asked the room as it grew quiet again, extinguishing his cigarette into an ashtray on a nearby table.

"We need to establish if the killer is indeed a vampire," a third man suggested. "Talk with our contacts in their community. If the killer is not vampire then we must find out who is behind this and stop them."

"And if it is a vampire?" asked the woman, all eyes turned back to the third man.

"Then we must find a way to destroy the one responsible."

"Oh I don't think you'll ever manage that," a musical female voice announced from the doorway. Everyone turned to look and several people gasped in fright. A redheaded woman stood leaning against the door frame. She appeared to be surveying the scene with mild amusement.

"No," Spender breathed.

"Oh yes," she replied to him, "you can't get rid of me that easily." She sashayed forward into the room, eyes fixed onto Spender's. Several people began shuffling back toward the walls, no ones eyes ever leaving the woman as she approached Spender. She broke eye contact with him and addressed the room. "Did you honestly believe you could control the future of the human race from inside your offices?" she asked. "Did you think you could sell out your own species to save yourselves and no one would find out, no one would try to stop you."

"We did what we did for the benefit of humanity," a woman replied, her voice small and unsure. "To try and salvage what we could."

"And did you ever consult humanity?" the redhead asked. "Ever bother to give us the opportunity to decide our own fates? You tried to bring about colonisation but you failed, tried to save yourselves at the expense of the rest of mankind. Did you ever, ever think you would be allowed to get away with it? Did you think for one moment that the universe itself would allow such a betrayal? The hope of the world in exchange for the lives of cowards?"

"If you kill us now, there will be no one to stand against them," the first man told her. She smiled.

"Once again you underestimate your own species," she told him. "Humanity is strong, people are not the cowards you find in this room. You have sought each other out to justify your cowardice and now," she paused for a moment. "you will pay." She stepped towards Spender again and someone screamed. Several people suddenly broke for the exit but before they could reach it the double doors once again swung open, this time revealing twenty beautiful men and women. The vampires didn't appear to think, they simply moved, cutting off all the exits and taking down the group member by member. In the middle of the room, Spender stood unmoving, his blue eyes locked with the ruby red eyes of the redheaded woman. They heard the noises around them, the screaming and the thuds as bodies dropped to the floor but neither turned to look.

"You told me once that you'd been a destroyer all your life," she told him, "I see now how true that is."

"You think that by destroying us that you will save the world somehow?" he asked her.

"Maybe, maybe not, but humanity deserves to know the truth. The human race can be vicious, cruel and evil, but it can also be capable of the greatest acts of self-sacrifice and love. To deny humanity the chance to make the right choices for themselves is to permit the greatest indignity against it, if the human race is doomed to extinction, then they deserve the opportunity to go down fighting, not be betrayed by a shadow, who sold them out for his own benefit." She closed the space between them, so close now he should have been able to feel her breath on his skin. Its absence caused him to feel fear for the first time, as he looked into her eyes and truly realised what she had become.

"You're not a killer," he told her. She laughed at him.

"I wasn't when you knew me. I had killed men back then but only to save others, its different now. I know what I have to do." Her eyes shone dangerously. "You deserve to die. I should make you suffer, should make you beg for death but even now, even in this body I could never be as cruel as you have been." Spender looked into her eyes and felt a shudder of fear as he began to understand her. "You made me what I am," she told him, "you robbed me of my only child, my hope for a family of my own. You destroyed the man I loved before my eyes, broke him piece by piece until he had nothing left but me. Then you took my life as well, just to destroy him. You stole away the things that made me human, you left me to die just to destroy your own son. But it didn't work. I found a way to keep fighting and I took it. I became this, less than human but a better person than you could ever hope to be. And Mulder? He kept on going, you tried to destroy him and you failed because he was never yours to destroy. He had the chance to kill you many times and he never took it because he was too good a man, stronger than his fathers, either one, because he was always on the side of what was good and right and just. But I'm not Mulder, and now I'm not even human because you took that from him too. It doesn't matter to me about being good anymore, all that matters is that I stop you."

"You'll never stop them Agent Scully," Spender told her, defiant to the last, "and you'll never save Mulder, he can never be the man you need him to be. He will never be that strong." He had broken the final barrier, but before he could see the pain in her eyes he felt the pain in his own blood. The stories were true, he tried to scream in agony but the venom paralysed him and seconds later he welcomed the blackness as it descended upon him. Scully let his body drop to the ground with an unceremonious thud. She wiped the back of her hand across her mouth and sneered in disgust. Then she crouched down over the body and looked into the vacant eyes.

"My name," she said slowly, drawing out each word, "is Dana."


	13. What Happened There?

**FINALLY UPDATING THIS! I'VE BEEN SEARCHING FOR A BETA SINCE THE LAST UPDATE BUT NOT FOUND ONE YET SO I'M POSTING THIS WITHOUT IT HAVING BEEN BETA READ. IF ANYONE'S INTERESTED THEN PLEASE LET ME KNOW.**

Mulder was late arriving at his office. When he finally pushed open the door with his upper arm whilst trying to balance his coffee, breakfast bagel and a thick stack of documents at the same time he was surprised to see Skinner sat behind his desk waiting for him. Skinner was playing with a small trinket Scully had kept in her desk drawer, two coins seemingly welded together through their centres into a cross. He was examining it carefully, twirling it around between his fingers with the skill of a magician. Mulder watched him for a moment then cleared his throat.

"Sir?" Skinner jumped fractionally, dropping the coin to the floor. He bent down to pick it up.

"Do you remember where Agent Scully found this?" Skinner asked absentmindedly as he sat back up, staring at the coins. Mulder shook his head slowly.

"No, it just sort of appeared here one day. I guess I never asked her," he replied sadly, mentally adding that question to the list of others he had failed to ask his partner. Skinner took one last look at the melded metal before returning it to Mulder's desk where it had lived since Mulder found the courage to clean out Scully's area of their office.

"CGB Spender is dead," Skinner announced matter-of-factly. Mulder almost choked on the burning hot coffee he had just swallowed.

"You're kidding? The same as the others?"

"No, this was a massacre. He was found dead in the middle of a group of 42 individuals at a private club downtown, however the cause of death was the same as Krycek and Scanlon and each victim had one of the notes on them." Skinner looked at Mulder intently, "whoever is behind this, they've taken out the entire group, Spender's newly re-formed shadow government. It looks like Scanlon and Krycek were bait to gather the group together." Mulder sat down, the shock knocking the strength from his legs.

"Should I assume no blood or other evidence?" he asked.

"No blood or fibers no, but we have something better," Skinner told him, "a CCTV camera in the corridor outside the meeting room recorded the entry and exit of a number of individuals. It's not clear enough to run facial identification software but we have something at least." Skinner stood up and crossed the room to the television as Mulder spun his chair around. He loaded up the footage and Mulder learnt forward in concentration. The tape began running on screen with a timestamp in the mid afternoon. "The meeting room the bodies were found in hadn't been booked at all for yesterday, a caretaker reported nothing unusual when he unlocked it at three in the afternoon to take care of some maintenance issues. The agents who looked over this tape recorded the victims entering between eight thirty and nine in the evening with the group we believe responsible for their deaths arriving a little after that, however I wanted to go through the entire afternoon with you in case you spot something they missed." Mulder nodded and watched the tape carefully as the caretaker unlocked the door and vanished inside, reappearing some minutes later.

With over five hours of footage to review, Mulder soon grew restless. The tape recorded the movements of dozens of individuals, mostly men in expensive suits, as they headed between rooms whilst making calls or checking emails on their phones. None of them looked even remotely suspicious to Mulder and naturally the Bureau was tracking down anyone who was registered as entering the building that day for questioning regardless, so his mind began to wander. Skinner was speeding through the tape when the corridor was empty to try and get to the evening footage but Mulder's mind was soon elsewhere, only returning to the tape whenever Skinner returned it to normal speed at the appearance of another person. By the point at which the timestamp hit eight thirty PM, Mulder was decidedly bored. This was not his favourite kind of detective work and so far nothing even vaguely interesting had materialised on the footage.

"Here we go," Skinner said, causing Mulder to look up suddenly from the pattern of crushed sunflower seed husks he had been staring at on the floor. "The first victim just arrived." Mulder watched a middle aged, slightly plump man make his way into the room. Then, a steady flow of men and women began entering the room, all in suits, many carrying briefcases or thick manila folders under their arms. Most arrived alone, a select number in small groups of two or three. Around fifteen minutes later, Mulder spotted Spender appearing in the hallway. He was alone and smoking a cigarette as he approached the door and looked up and down the hallway, taking in the camera and seeming slightly more relaxed on noting its presence before entering the room. Mulder felt something odd in the pit of his stomach as he realised that he was watching Spender's final moments, the last images of the man who had changed the world but whose name would die in shadows. Another fifteen minutes passed with more people arriving at the room until Mulder saw one last man arrive, looking tired and weary as he hurried to the door, as if he had rushed from somewhere to arrive on time.

"That's the last victim inside," Skinner told him somberly, "now we wait." Mulder waited, staring at the screen which revealed nothing just the same shot of the deserted hallway. After ten minutes his eyes had glazed over yet again when he saw something on the screen which made him sit bolt upright in his chair. A small redheaded woman had just walked down the corridor, her back to the camera. She made her way to the door and stood outside it, apparently listening to the conversation inside the room. Mulder raised himself from his seat and crouched down in front of the television. He leant over to the screen, brushing his fingers over the woman's figure on the screen.

"Agent Mulder?" Skinner asked.

"Scully?" Mulder whispered at the screen.

"What on Earth are you talking about?" Skinner demanded.

"That woman, she looks like Scully," Mulder said without lifting his eyes from her.

"That's our killer," Skinner said sharply, Mulder spun his head around to look at him, fear and hurt in his eyes and then turned back to the screen. His eyes traced the woman's figure. She was wearing tight fitting jeans and a black shirt which clung to her shape.

"She has the exact same body shape," he told Skinner, watching the woman who was still standing statuesque beside the door. "The way her hips do this," he reached his index fingers out and traced along her outline. Skinner cleared his throat, sounding a little embarrassed and more than a bit agitated.

"Agent Mulder, your partner is dead, she has been dead for six months now," Skinner said, trying to keep his voice as gentle as possible. "This video was shot last night, it cannot possibly be Dana. Don't do this to yourself." Mulder continued to stare until the woman slipped through the doorway. He leant back from the screen and took a deep breath.

The video had put thoughts into his mind, thoughts he had been trying to erase for six months. Impossible, disturbing thoughts. His mind raced back through everything Scully had told him in those final days. An image of Dr Carlisle strolled into the front of his mind and Mulder suddenly found himself noticing things that his mind had previously glossed over; the man's uncannily pale skin, how cool he felt when they shook hands, his Hollywood good looks and perfect teeth. One by one the pieces slotted together in his mind and Mulder gasped so suddenly and so loudly that Skinner jumped in his seat. He looked back to the screen in time to see the group of men and women arrive in the hallway; like the redhead they all moved slowly and gracefully, arriving at the door to the meeting room and waiting there motionless. Then without hesitation and seemingly on some unseen trigger, the group sprang towards the doors. Moving unnaturally quickly, the contrast of their speed to the stillness of a moment earlier surprised Mulder and he stared open-mouthed at the screen. Before he had the chance to take in that they were about to move, they were gone and the doors had been slammed shut with enough force that the camera, suspended some 30ft away, rocked slightly. Mulder waited, holding his breath without realising it. After only a few minutes the doors opened again and the group exited together, the first redheaded woman now amongst the others, leaning slightly upon another woman, her body language suggesting to Mulder that she was a little upset - greatly at odds with the rest of the group who seemed excited and full of exited away from the camera, none turning to show their faces.

Mulder stared at her retreating figure, more certain now but his mind also full of doubts. He was sure of what he had seen but his emotions made him question himself and his convictions. Scully never even believed in vampires, how was it possible that she could be one? Had Dr Carlisle lied to her, what had they talked about? His mind went back to the note that had been found in her bed, her final cryptic message: _"I know what's about to happen. Trust me." _Had she made this choice, decided to do this? Had she been forced, threatened? His mind was racing. As the group rounded the corner at the end of the corridor, Skinner switched off the footage and cleared his throat. Mulder quickly pulled his mind back to the moment, he would need time to think about this.

"That's it?" Mulder asked trying to think of something to say about the otherwise pointless footage, "they weren't caught on any other cameras?"

"No, all the other cameras in the vicinity were disabled. It seems this one was an oversight, it was only installed two nights ago." Mulder cursed silently, he'd hoped to get a better look at her face on another camera.

"Ok, well there's not much to go on," he said slowly, trying to gather his thoughts, "I guess I'll head down there." Mulder stood up and began gathering his things together as Skinner scrutinised him, unsure of Mulder's sudden change of direction. As Mulder exited the room, Skinner turned back to the television in order to retrieve the footage. As he listened to it whirr and waited for the disc to eject, his thoughts returned to the redheaded woman on the footage. He could never tell Mulder, but when she had appeared on screen, their thoughts had been identical. He tried to put it out of his mind, Agent Scully was dead and now the men responsible for that had been brought to an awful and vicious justice - by a woman who looked just like her. He shook his head forcefully and muttered a rebuttal under his breath, if he continued thinking like that then he'd soon be "pulling a Mulder" as it was known in the Bureau and announcing that Agent Scully had become a vampire. Just as the thought crossed his mind, he froze, just what if Mulder was right again?


	14. Who Is She?

Alone in his apartment, Mulder stared blankly at his coffee table which was covered in a mixture of documents and photographs related to his case. In the middle of the table was a still shot of the red headed woman that had been pulled from the club's CCTV footage. The picture was blurred and grainy showing only her back, but Mulder had spent the past hour staring at it; as if by sheer willpower he would be able to make her turn around to reveal her face and true identity to him. He was startled slightly by the knock on his door, tearing his eyes away from the picture in order to answer it. The Gunmen were stood in the corridor, Langley holding a bag of Chinese food.

"I believe you require our consulting expertise?" Frohike asked, Mulder grinned at him.

"Get in here before my neighbours see the kind of weirdos I associate with," Mulder replied, stepping back to allow the guys to pass him. Langley headed straight to the kitchen and began pulling the food cartons out of the bag whilst Frohike and Byers made themselves comfortable on the couch. Mulder closed the door and went to the fridge to pull out four beers which he passed around before helping Langley bring the cartons and some plates into the living room; for a few minutes the room was quiet with just the sounds of eating and drinking to break the silence. Byers was first to finish and began rifling through the documents on the table, pulling out a folder which contained more still shots from the CCTV footage including the best profile shots that Photographic Operations had managed to pull of everyone in the attacking group.

"They didn't get a single full on facial shot?" he queried, Mulder shook his head mutely as his mouth was stuffed with food and reached over to thumb through the pictures until he found one of a young looking dark haired man who was looking down the hallway in the rough direction of the camera. He swallowed his mouthful.

"This was the only one," he told them, "Violent Crimes ran it through the photo recognition system but there were no close matches, they've got a team manually checking against the catalogues now but they haven't turned up anything so far."

"How can that many people, working that fast to kill such a large number of victims not leave a single print or fibre?" Frohike questioned aloud as he dumped his now clean plate on the floor by the coffee table. Mulder shrugged.

"Perhaps they don't have fingerprints?" he suggested.

"You believe all the members of this group are vampires?" Byers asked.

"I don't know," Mulder said slowly, but there's something I want you guys to see. He pulled out a copy of the CCTV footage and loaded it onto his TV, quickly locating the timestamp he wanted his friends to watch. He heard the audible gasp from Byers as the redhead walked onto the screen.

"Scully? But, no, I..." Byers stuttered to silence. Frohike and Langley were both sat frozen staring at the screen.

"You think it's her too?" Mulder asked them quietly. All three sets of eyes turned to him, Byers was the only one to nod slightly.

"It's her walk, a bit more graceful perhaps but it's hers and her way of holding herself. We've seen enough CCTV footage of the pair of you over the years, I'd recognise her anywhere, even with that new hairstyle."

"I don't understand," Frohike half whispered. "How can she..?"

"You know what I think this group is," Mulder said flatly, "if she was..."

"But this is Dana," Byers said quietly, "she would never, I mean, how would this have happened?"

"I have a theory," Mulder told him, the guys were silent. "Just before she died that new doctor appeared. I guess I didn't think much about it at the time but that description you guys gave me of a vampire the other day, the pale cool skin, the good looks. This guy fits the profile and he never did tell us anything about this mysterious treatment he was going to give her. What if he lied? What if he attacked her in that room? What if this is all another plan by that cigarette smoking bastard? You said yourselves that the government use vampires to carry out some of their dirty work? What if he gave her cancer back then had his doctor change her - it all makes sense, destroy my life and my resolve and get a new recruit at the same time. One who's already trained in law enforcement and knows how to handle herself. But they underestimated her and she's turned on them."

"OK, let's assume the doctor was a vampire," Byers replied slowly, obviously unconvinced. "What if he didn't lie? What if Scully knew what he was and she made the choice to..." He couldn't finish the sentence. Mulder shook his head violently.

"No, she would have told me. She would have stayed with me."

"Maybe it wasn't safe?"

"No," Mulder shouted, making the other three jump. "I refuse to believe that Scully would allow herself to become this, that she wouldn't tell me about something like this. We told each other everything, we loved each other!" The room went silent.

"What about her note?" Byers asked quietly. Mulder felt slightly cold as he recalled what she had written, her final words to him: "_I know what's about to happen. Trust me." _The vitriol that had been building in him all day since he had first seen the video and convinced himself that Scully had been lied to and used, even after her death, had made him forget about the note.

"Maybe they told her something else, told her..." he couldn't think of anything. Frohike shifted over and clapped Mulder on the back in a comforting gesture.

"I think we need to investigate both possibilities," Byers said. "We have a few contacts who claim some knowledge of the vampire community, we can speak to them, see if they've heard anything." Mulder nodded dumbly.

"We'll get right on it, as soon as we're home," Frohike told Mulder in a surprisingly gentle voice. "If she's out there, we'll find her." Mulder looked up at him and nodded. He felt drained, emotional, and confused. He had been so convinced that Scully had been betrayed that he hadn't even considered another option, that she might somehow have chosen this. His mind replayed the conversations they'd shared in her finals days. The way she had wanted to stay and fight against the men who had given her cancer and taken away her chance to be a mother. Her fear at what she had termed "side effects" of the mysterious treatment Doctor Carlisle had discussed with her, how she had claimed it would change her whole life. It all made a worrying sort of sense in his mind and the more he thought about it, the more logical the Gunmen's interpretation seemed to be.

"We'll call as soon as we've found anything," Byers said, making him jump slightly; he'd been so lost in his thoughts he had somehow forgotten that he wasn't alone. He thanked the guys for coming over and saw them out of his apartment, locking the door after them. The he collapsed back onto his sofa and stared at the photograph of Scully, stroking his finger down the grainy image of her hair. If she was really out there somewhere, then maybe, just maybe he'd get to hold her again someday.

* * *

><p><em><strong>So I finally have a new beta, many thanks to cock-blocking bee for taking me up on my request! How are you guys liking the story so far? Anything you're looking hoping to see in the future? Let me know, you might give me some inspiration!<strong>_


	15. I Have To See Him

In a large house on the New England coast, Dana Scully sat curled on a sofa, staring out the window at the rolling surf. It was cold outside but as she no longer felt the cold, the open window didn't concern her. She watched two joggers run along the beach together and felt the familiar prickle of hunger in her throat as the wind blew their scent toward the house, it was easy to ignore it. The sensation triggered the memory of the last time she had eaten, how the stench of Spender's tobacco scented clothes had hit her nostrils and made her want to vomit. The others had taken their fill, there had been more than enough blood to go around but she had only focused on Spender, on fulfilling her own personal vendetta. The experience had made her feel sick; she acted confident and sure of her new self in front of the men and women she had set out to destroy but in her mind she felt twisted and torn, partly disgusted by her own actions even though she understood that it was no less natural than a human being eating a steak - survival, nothing more. The others wouldn't need to eat again for at least a day but Dana knew she would need to hunt before that time and so she would probably have to head into the woods alone. For years now, ever since the incident in Washington with the glowing green bugs, she had hated the woods - those invisible men in Florida hadn't exactly changed her mind either. Today she felt at peace there, her senses powerful enough to pick up on any dangers before they could get close, she was top of the food chain now and the lack of distracting human stimulation gave her welcome relief.

Dana didn't know how long she had sat looking out of the window but as she became aware of the faint sound of an engine rumbling toward her, she realised that twilight had begun to fall. She sighed and stood up, stretching out her legs. She recognised the engine note and knew who was coming, the car was still some distance away and she quickly freshened up before she heard the door slam outside. There was a rapid sequence of three knocks and the front door opened.

"Dana!", Dr Carlisle stood in the doorway and smiled widely at her and the two of them hugged. "How are you?" She shrugged and turned her back on him, walking away back toward the living room. The man followed her in and noticed the dent in the sofa before she sat back down on it. "You haven't just been staring out of the window all day have you?"

"Not all day," she replied without making eye contact, "just since you called me."

"It's ok you know," he began but before he could go any further she rounded on him, red eyes glowing with fury.

"No it is not ok!" she shouted, her musical voice losing its tune and roaring like thunder "I've tried so hard to keep him out of danger and now he's going to walk right into the most dangerous situation possible because of me."

"You couldn't have known about the security camera," he told her earnestly but she shook her head.

"I should have been checking, I should have been more vigilant. I've put us all at risk."

"No one will find us, any of us," he reassured her, sitting down and rubbing one hand along her forearm in an attempt to calm her down. "Some of those guys have managed to stay off the radar for hundreds of years, they're not going to be foiled by one lousy security camera."

"But Mulder!" she half sobbed, "he's looking into the case now, he saw me on the footage, you said so yourself. Skinner's memo, Mulder's convinced now that I'm alive - or something anyway - and by now he'll have dragged our friends into this. He won't give up. He'll destroy himself to find me." She broke down sobbing and sat down on the sofa beside Edwin as he gave up his attempt to comfort her.

"Then let's not let him," he whispered gently. Dana looked up at him.

"What do you mean?"

"How about I contact him, offer to meet with him? He must have guessed at my involvement by now, the mysterious doctor who appeared right before your death. The only thing that has surprised me in this whole affair was how quickly he stopped pursuing me."

"What would you tell him?"

"The truth. About me, about you, about our plans."

"And risk exposing ourselves."

"You trust him don't you?"

"I'd trust him with my soul."

"Then we can trust him too."

"I have to see him."

"I know, but let me talk to him first, ok?"

"He'll probably try to kill you if he thinks you were involved!"

"If that's what he needs then let him, it won't hurt me after all," his final comment elicited a slight smile from Dana.

"I never asked how Holly is," she questioned sheepishly. "The information from the Bureau came from her?"

"Naturally, she's the best for information on that section as she's so close to Skinner. She's fine, just a little curious."

"I wish I could have stayed in contact with her," Dana replied, "but I couldn't risk Mulder finding out about me."

"It's just a stroke of good luck that of all the people to be attacked it was her."

"More lucky that you found her and helped her. She could never have stayed in that position without your support."

"She'll still have to leave within a few years," Dr Carlisle sighed, "she's a pretty girl, people notice her more, they'll get suspicious if she doesn't start showing a few laughter lines at least." A thump from upstairs stopped their conversation. "Guess I really was distracted, I didn't even notice we weren't alone."

"Gideon & Harrison are here for now, Leyla and Tim are shacked up in an RV in the woods." At the mention of their names, two young looking men appeared down the staircase.

"Edwin!" Harrison enthused, shaking the doctor's hand vigorously. "How are you? Care to join us for a hunt?"

"I'm afraid I have to head back to DC, I was just stopping by to speak to Dana after running a few errands. Maybe next time," Dr Carlisle replied with a large grin. "There's some blood bags due to go out of date that are waiting for me anyway, waste not want not eh?" The group all laughed and Dana managed a smile.

"Come on Dana," the shorter of the two men said, turning to her, "you gotta be hungry?"

"Starving," she admitted and the three of them said their goodbyes to the doctor before heading through patio doors and out into the cold, dark woods.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hope you like the first real look at Vampire Scully! As for the review concerned about Mulder going all Buffy on her when they meet, well I'll give you a hint that someone in the future is not going to take to her new character very well at all...<strong>_


	16. Mulder's Email

Mulder awoke on his couch surrounded by papers and surveillance photographs. Bright sunlight streamed through the cracks in the blinds and landed on his face as he scrambled blindly for his phone to check the time. Ten AM, his moment of panic was quickly relieved as he remembered it was Saturday. He groaned as he sat up, grasped his hands high above his head and stretched out all the kinks in his back from having slept badly. He ran his fingers through his hair and grimaced; he really needed a shower. He stood up, and winced at the sound of his knees and ankles as they cracked and walked into the kitchen to make himself some much needed coffee. As he waited for the coffee to perk he rummaged through his cupboards for some food, but found nothing except a half eaten packet of cookies. He shrugged and pulled them off the shelf, unwrapping the foil and shoving one into his mouth as he filled his mug with coffee and inhaled the scent, feeling it awaken his senses. He wandered back into the living room, coffee in one hand and another cookie in his mouth, and pressed the computer's on switch with his toe as he walked past. The machine was old and took an age to boot up, at least it could gradually come to life as he took his shower.

Fifteen minutes later and Mulder was at his desk, wrapped in a towel as he scanned over the dozens of unread emails across his personal and work accounts, most were junk. He muttered under his breath, cursed at himself for not having bothered to clean out his in-boxes more often, it was just one of those jobs that never managed to climb to the top of the priority list. His personal inbox had nothing of interest but when Mulder flipped across to his work account he froze. At the top of the list sat a new and completely unexpected message.

_From: Dr Edwin Carlisle Subject: Meeting?_

Mulder clicked on the message so cautiously he felt almost silly, it wasn't like it would explode on contact. The message loaded on screen and he read it carefully.

_Agent Mulder,_

_I hope you remember me, my name is Dr. Edwin Carlisle and I briefly treated your partner Dana Scully at Georgetown Medical Center. Some information has recently come to my attention that concerns you and I hope you can find time for us to meet and discuss my findings? I am available this afternoon at approximately 3pm, after I have completed my rounds. I hope this is convenient for you as the matter I wish to discuss is somewhat urgent. You can contact me at 202-555-0910 extension 1986._

_Dr. E Carlisle_

Mulder sat back in his chair, it felt as though all the air had been knocked from his lungs. Questions raced through his head, he had so many that he couldn't choose which one to think about first. Without really having thought it through, he picked up his phone and dialled Dr. Carlisle's number, not the least surprised when he got the answering machine. He left a brief message to confirm that he would be at the office in Georgetown at 3pm, ended the call and resumed his dumbstruck stare at the email. He had a lot of theories on why Scully's doctor suddenly wanted to meet him but he didn't dare go down many of those thought paths for fear of getting his hopes up. He picked up the phone again and was about to dial Skinner when something stopped him. He decided he wouldn't tell anyone about this meeting. Instead, he picked himself up and began gathered together the papers that were scattered throughout the room. It was going to be a long wait for 3pm.


	17. What Once Was Lost

At five to three Mulder was sitting in a small waiting area at the Georgetown Medical Center, as he anxiously awaiting his allotted time to meet with Dr. Carlisle. The room was nice for a hospital, the waiting area had plush carpets and comfortable seats, but Mulder was only interested in the clock on the wall which seemed to be moving slower than he thought possible. The door to Dr. Carlisle's office opened and a middle aged woman exited holding hands with a man Mulder presumed to be her husband; she was smiling in a way that suggested she had received some good news. Mulder tried not to stare too much but the sight of the couple caused a small knot to form in his stomach. The woman had fading red hair and was a good few inches shorter than her male companion. The sight made Mulder think about a future he and Scully would never have. As they made their way down the corridor, Mulder sank back into his chair and breathed out heavily. He needed to try and regain some composure.

The office door opened again and Dr. Carlisle appeared. He looked around quickly, a polite smile appearing on his face as he spotted Mulder.

"Agent Mulder, please come in," he said, as he turned his back and headed into his office. Mulder quickly stood up and followed him inside. As Mulder entered the room, he turned on his finely honed profiling skills to the maximum and studied the doctor. He noted Dr. Carlisle's graceful walk and his uncannily pale skin, annoyingly it would be nearly impossible to spot if he was also sporting tinted contact lenses without getting very up close and personal. Dr. Carlisle took his seat and Mulder crossed the room to the one opposite, and tried to look as confident as possible while his stomach turned in uncomfortable somersaults. Dr. Carlisle considered him across the desk for a moment before resting back into his seat and offering Mulder another small, polite smile.

"What do you say we don't waste our time on idle chit chat Mr. Mulder?" the doctor began, "we both know why you're here."

"OK," Mulder replied, "shoot." Dr. Carlisle stared coolly at him.

"You want the truth about your partner, about Dana?" Mulder glared harshly at him. "The truth is that Dana is, well I can't technically use the phrase 'alive and well' but she is healthy and living amongst friends."

"Take me to her," Mulder said in a voice that offered no compromises, "now."

"I will," Dr. Carlisle replied calmly, "I saw her just last night and told her I would be meeting you. She wants to see you, desperately so." Mulder felt his heart flutter as he imagined her alone somewhere without her friends and family. "She's ok, just worried about you," Dr. Carlisle reassured him. "She agreed it was best that I meet with you before bringing you up to meet her. So I could make you aware of the changes she's undergone."

"Changes?" Mulder repeated slowly, "I'm guessing we're talking about something more than the obvious point we're dancing around?"

"Yes, the finer details if you like," Dr Carlisle smiled.

"And they would include?" Mulder asked.

"Well for starters, do you think I always looked like this?" the doctor asked. Mulder surveyed the man again and was startled by just how attractive he really was. Mulder had never felt any desires at all toward other men but right now, really looking at the handsome doctor across the desk from him, he felt a desire to get closer. Dr. Carlisle chuckled, breaking the spell. "There is something that happens during the transformation. I don't know the exact science of it but it takes a person and manipulates them, some of the newer members of our group have been referring to it as getting Photoshopped. A vampire is still recognisable as the human they once were, very much so, they just appear as that person might have done if they'd had a very detailed makeover. Skin smooths out and evens in colour, wrinkles fade away and teeth straighten up. It can be somewhat disorientating to anyone that knew them before, especially without warning."

"I don't care how she looks," Mulder began but Dr. Carlisle held up his hand.

"It's not just physical," Dr. Carlisle continued. "Dana's personality has changed too. She's more emotive now, all vampires are more instinctive than humans and our emotions and senses drive us, especially in the first few years after transformation. We can fly through emotions at far greater speed and depth than you might imagine possible and Dana is very, very young in the eyes of our culture. She has very little control over her emotions and it can make her dangerous." A thought crossed Mulder's mind that hadn't even occurred to him until that moment.

"I'll be in danger when I'm with her?" Dr. Carlisle considered him, then shook his head.

"No, I don't believe so. Now she's had a few months to gather some modicum of control Dana couldn't harm you, she loves you and the strength of that emotion would drive away any feeling of hunger she might experience from simply being around you - after all you are lunch, even in my eyes. Of course certain acts that could cause her to, well, lose control for a moment should probably be avoided." The doctor shot Mulder a grin to try and lighten the tension which had settled in the room. "Most vampires learn control after a very short time, we have to if we want to avoid being discovered. It tends to make headlines when one of us doesn't keep themselves in check. I'll make sure none of the younger ones are around when we get to the house though."

"Where is she?" Mulder asked suddenly.

"New England. A big old house by the sea," Dr Carlisle said with a genuine smile, "she specifically asked if there was anywhere she could go near the ocean. She loves the house, it has a massive library with thousands of books and there's a big grand piano up there too."

"Scully doesn't play the piano," Mulder said, confused.

"She didn't but she's had a lot of time to learn and one of the others has been playing for far longer than you or even your grandparents have been walking on this planet, he's been teaching her. She's pretty good now." Mulder tried to picture Scully sitting at a grand piano in a beautiful old house by the sea, the image actually made him smile a little.

"When can we go?" he asked. Dr. Carlisle looked at his computer screen.

"I have two late appointments this afternoon that I must attend to as they are urgent referrals," he told Mulder. "However I made sure that my schedule is clear from seven this evening through until Monday morning. We can go tonight if you feel ready?"

"Seven," Mulder repeated without bothering to agree whether or not he was ready. Dr. Carlisle nodded with a slight smirk of amusement.

"Seven, here, bring an overnight bag and warm clothes," the last part caused Mulder to look confused, "we don't feel the cold so the house isn't heated very much. I'm led to believe it can be very cold there." Mulder nodded and stood up.

"I'll be here," he said simply, then after a pause he added a quick "thank you." Dr. Carlisle nodded.

"I consider any person I transform as part of my family, Dana is a part of that now and I would do anything to see her happy," he told Mulder. "Just be sure you know what is it you're becoming a part of. There is a war on Mr. Mulder, a war your partner is waging and it is only just getting started." Mulder stared at the doctor but at that moment the intercom buzzed, Dr. Carlisle pressed it and a woman's voice filled the room announcing that Dr. Muldoon was waiting outside. Mulder knew that was his cue to leave and made for the door, as he opened it and walked out into the fancy waiting room he stole one last glance back at the doctor. Dr. Carlisle was behind his desk looking as professional and confident as anyone would want from a top doctor, but Mulder was certain he could see a flicker of worry crossing the doctor's face. If practically indestructible vampires were waging a war that worried even them, Mulder had to wonder what implications that held for himself and for everyone else.

...

At seven that evening, Mulder was back in the plush waiting room at the hospital. Dr. Carlisle's last appointment was running slightly over and Mulder felt impatient. Although he understood from his time watching Scully practice that a doctor's first priority was always to his patients, Mulder knew what was waiting for him at the end of this journey and all he wanted was to get on the road. At five past the door opened and a young man left the room, his eyes were slightly red and he was clutching a small leaflet. Mulder didn't know exactly what was wrong but the young man was clearly deeply upset and Mulder felt bad for having wished the appointment to end sooner. The young man seemed to have needed some support and now he was leaving the office alone, Mulder found himself hoping that he had someone to go home to. As he watched the young man walk away down the corridor, he heard the door again and turned to see Dr. Carlisle locking up his office.

"Mr. Mulder," he said with a smile, "glad you're here, I'd like to get on the road as soon as possible, long drive ahead." Mulder nodded and stood. "I'll need to return to my apartment to pick up my bag, then we can get straight off if you're ready," Dr. Carlisle told him. "Have you eaten?"

"To be honest I don't really feel up to eating much," Mulder told him.

"Well if you feel like it, we can pull in somewhere along the way," Dr. Carlisle replied. He strode down the corridor and Mulder hurried to keep up. As they walked he noticed how quietly and gracefully the doctor moved, in the deserted hospital corridor it seemed somewhat eerie. They arrived back at the parking lot and the doctor headed for a large Mercedes parked close to the door.

"Follow me," he called to Mulder who was walking toward his own Ford Taurus. "I'll wait if we get separated." Mulder nodded and climbed into his car. He quickly pulled out and began following the fancy Mercedes across town to an upper middle class district where it pulled onto a paved driveway. Dr. Carlisle got out and stepped inside the building, appearing a few moments later with a small, black suitcase. He walked over to Mulder's car as Mulder rolled down his window.

"Want to car share?" he asked, "seems silly to take two."

"What if you want to head back before me?" Mulder asked, it was a very real possibility in his mind.

"I'll get someone to drive me back, at least one person in that house owes me a favour and it's not like most of them have jobs to get to. Or there are other ways for us to travel." Mulder nodded and popped the trunk for Dr. Carlisle to deposit his bag before climbing into the passenger seat.

"Get on the Beltway then head for the I-95," Dr. Carlisle told him. Mulder pulled out and drove away, wondering where exactly that he would eventually find himself.

**Author's notes:**

_The young man Mulder sees leaving Dr Carlisle's office is based on another young man who was in the bed next to mine for 24 hours on the Emergency Assessment ward when I was admitted to hospital late one night four years ago. I never caught his name or even saw more than a glimpse of his face as I was leaving, but I still remember him. He looked to be in his mid twenties and I figured he'd had an accident, until an overly loud conversation with a nurse informed me that he had cancer. No one ever visited him whilst I was there and I hoped at the time that someone would be coming to see him, of course I never found out if they did._

_On a lighter note, five house points to anyone who spotted the Jurassic Park reference in here!_

_I hate notes asking for reviews but I'd love to hear from you guys if you're enjoying the story and to see what you'd like to see happen in the future. I have an outline for the main plot but I'm interested to hear what you readers think will or should happen to everyone._


	18. No Distance Left to Run

It was 6 am when Mulder woke up in the passenger seat of his Taurus. The sun was rising and Mulder could see glimpses of the ocean as the car drove along. He and Edwin had swapped places around midnight when they had stopped off at a diner near Stamford because Mulder was finally feeling very hungry. At the time he had been surprised to learn that they were only around halfway to their destination.

"Do we need to stop in a motel?" he had asked between bites of his hamburger. Edwin shook his head.

"No, I don't need to sleep."

"Ever?"

"Not really, I mean I can sleep if I want to but it's not a vital function and it's one that takes a long time to develop. I go months without sleeping, gives me lots of spare time to read, learn new skills and study. I have to say it was one of the best things about the change, no longer feeling tired. Providing I've eaten I have a consistent energy to get on with things. Of course I have to feign tiredness at the end of the day when I'm at work or around others socially but that becomes second nature quite quickly for those of us who spend our time amongst humans. I just pick up cues from others."

"Is it hard?" Mulder asked suddenly, it was a question that had been playing on his mind all day but he hadn't found the guts to ask out loud.

"Being around humans?" Edwin asked, Mulder nodded. "Not really no, I mean if I haven't eaten in a long time then yes it does become a bit more difficult but I make sure I eat regularly and don't allow myself to become hungry so it's not a problem. It's like you walking into a supermarket so I'm told, if you're really hungry then all that food around you is a temptation and you end up buying a lot and eating snacks on your way around but if you're not then you just get on with your shopping and don't really think about the food itself. Plus there's another aspect for me, I don't want to be a killer so I choose not to be even when the temptation is really strong. I'm sure you've been so angry with someone you've wanted to kill them, but you don't want to be a killer either so you didn't?" Mulder nodded slowly.

"Have you ever killed anyone?" Mulder asked. Edwin stared at him for a moment as if weighing up the motive behind the question.

"Yes, once, when I was just changed. I had already decided that I wouldn't be that kind of vampire, the kind that feel it is a biological duty of some sort to kill humans simply because we're top of the food chain. They are out there but I didn't want to be a part of it. I was hungry, back then I didn't have the resources or the knowledge and skills to get food regularly like I do now. I was walking through a city at night, I think it might have been Los Angeles, and I heard a scream. I saw a man dragging a woman down an alley with a knife to her throat. He'd cut her already so I could smell the blood and it made me even hungrier. I went toward them at first with the intent of just helping her escape, then I saw what he was doing to her and it made me sick. I felt this fury inside me at what he was doing to this poor girl so I charged down the alley and pulled him off her. I told her to run and she did, fled out of there faster than lightning. The guy turned on me and stabbed me but his blade shattered when it hit my chest. I don't know what I thought because the rage was blinding me, I just killed him on the spot and I'll be honest, it felt good. I felt like he deserved it, deep down I still do, but I do regret what I did now." The two men stared at each other and Mulder regarded him carefully.

"I don't know if I could have done much differently from you had it been me in that alley," Mulder finally said. Edwin sat in silence for a moment.

"Possibly not, and the man was a monster without question, but I can't look back without thinking to myself that whatever he might have been, I took a son away from his mother and father that night. Whatever he may have deserved, I doubt they deserved to lose their child, especially in so horrific a manner. That's why I've never done it since, and I plan to never do it again."

"Then how do you feed yourself?" Mulder asked.

"There's a network of us set up in hospitals and blood banks to monitor donated blood that is about to be discarded because of usage dates expiring or tests coming back to show infections that mean they can't be used in treatment. Naturally that doesn't account for all that much, the hospitals are good at using what they're given. Most of us that choose not to kill humans live off animals, it's why most vampires set up in more remote regions - bigger game."

"Animals?" Mulder asked in surprise, "I wouldn't have had you down as the hunting type."

"What would be the alternative?" Edwin asked simply. "I have to admit, my position has allowed me certain advantages. I may or may not have helped some patients of mine who no longer wished to remain in this world to cross over to the next with a little more dignity than their condition might otherwise have allowed. But that's a question of ethics that's far too complex for this time of night in a cheap diner."

Mulder had considered Edwin's words at the time and as he paid for his dinner. Now as he awoke in the pink light of a New England dawn, they came back to him along with an image of Scully. He hadn't asked Edwin if he knew how she was choosing to get food, he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know. He stretched awkwardly and tried to make sense of road signs as they flew by. Edwin looked over and saw that he was awake.

"Hope you slept well," he said, "you've been out for about five hours."

"Where are we?" asked Mulder groggily, pulling himself up to a better sitting position and looking out at his surroundings.

"We passed Providence just over an hour ago," Edwin told him, "right now we're about half an hour away."

"Can I know exactly where it is we're going?" Mulder asked.

"Well the closest town is West Yarmouth, we're heading out about five miles from there down to a secluded cove. There's only the one house out there where some of our group live."

"Your group?"

"A family group, it makes sense for us to live together, gives us others to go out hunting with and sometimes form relationships. There's a couple, Leyla and Tim, who brought their own RV and parked it out in the woods near the house because they wanted their own space. Most of the others live in a sort of house share system, bit like college really. Money's pretty easy to come by so we can afford big houses and there are a lot dotted around the country in remote spots, plenty of space if you want to be alone but others around if you don't."

"Scully's in one of those houses then?" Mulder asked, he wanted his facts straight.

"Yep, one of the biggest because she wanted more privacy and that one has more space, plus the ocean proximity. There are two men and a girl living there with her." Mulder felt worried at the thought of Scully living with two strange men and the worry must have crept into his face because Edwin suddenly chuckled. "Don't worry, Gideon and Harrison are together. They have the attic rooms to themselves. Thea is on the same floor as Dana but she's a pretty private person too so they get along fine together." Mulder nodded and sat quietly watching the countryside go by for a long time.

"They know we're coming?" he asked suddenly, he was starting to feel nervous.

"Yes, I called between patients to let them know. I spoke to Gideon but Dana was there too. Gideon was going to let everyone know you're coming; we don't have humans in the house so anyone coming in might get a shock, they won't have been preparing to be around you. Gideon told me he and Harrison were going to stick around last night to be with Dana and keep her company because she's been in a bit of a state about seeing you again." Mulder made a mental note to thank them. As he did, he saw a sign for West Yarmouth and felt his stomach knot, they were close. Edwin must have sensed the tension in the car increase because he looked over at Mulder.

"Guess I'm just feeling a bit unsure of where I stand now," Mulder admitted.

"Just remember, no matter how strange this all is, inside she's still the woman you remember. She still loves you, that never changed. She's just on a new diet." Mulder laughed but it felt hollow, he knew there was more to this change than a slight change in Scully's eating preferences and what amounted to the world's best plastic surgery. He wasn't really sure exactly who it was he was going to meet.

The car rolled on down a narrow road, the ocean stretched away to Mulder's left and to the right was a forest that seemed to go on forever - no light made it's way through from the other side. The car pulled into the forest and within seconds, the ocean was lost from view. The road wound through the trees and a few minutes later, Mulder felt the car slowing as they turned into a large driveway. Straight ahead was a large grey house, built in an L-shape. To his left stood several outbuildings that had clearly been converted into garages, enough to store at least half a dozen cars before you would need to park on the driveway. The house was white with clapboard shutters and a wooden porch with a large swing on it. Sat on the seat was a man dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt, he watched the car approach then turned and appeared to call over his shoulder. The car rumbled to a halt and Edwin got out, striding over to greet the man on the porch who Mulder assumed must be either Gideon or Harrison. Mulder followed him out of the car a moment later as his nerves began to take hold. Part of him wanted to run. He had just allowed himself to be driven straight into the middle of nowhere and he was surrounded by vampires. He stood shakily and looked around at the house, it was beautiful. He could smell the sea air and hear the waves crashing nearby, the ocean must be just behind it. As he tried to take it all in the front door opened and another man appeared, he was also wearing jeans but he wore a crisply pressed red shirt on top. He was clearly talking to someone still inside, Mulder got the impression he was trying to sooth them and he was obviously holding their hand. Mulder took in a deep breath and took three steps toward the house, trying to look as confident as possible. The man at the door said something and gave a little tug with his arm, gently pulling and suddenly, before Mulder had a chance to prepare himself, he was looking at Scully once more.

**Author Notes:**

_Hi everyone!_  
><em>This chapter ends what I consider to be Part One of Dana's Choice, thanks for sticking with it so far. The story will be taking a new direction from now as Mulder &amp; Scully fight together again and come to terms with the huge changes in their relationship. I'm really looking forward to sharing it all with you as I'm having so much fun writing it. Thanks again!<em>  
><em>Sophie<em>


	19. How You Been?

_**A/N:** __Welcome to part two, and thanks for sticking with me! Mulder and Scully are back together but there's a whole world of new challenges now facing them, not least of which is the impending threat of colonization. I hope you enjoy seeing them face these new issues together. Thank you for the feedback, it really is appreciated._

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><p>Mulder's knees almost gave way. Scully was wearing jeans and a neat blue sweater the colour of sapphires; she was thinner than he remembered but looked fit. Her skin looked ghostly pale but the thing that almost stopped him breathing was her hair, it was longer than he remembered and curled in large, soft ringlets. He stared at her for several long moments before dragging his eyes nervously to meet hers. He sensed that the three men around them had stopped talking and were watching with the same caution he felt. His eyes locked with Scully's and his heart missed a beat as he finally saw her eyes. It was then he knew that everything he had been told was true. Her once-blue eyes were now a fierce shade of red. They looked predatory. Mulder felt an uncontrollable flush of primitive fear shoot through him, but at that moment he saw her blink and tears appear. She smiled and all his fear vanished as she broke from the porch. Before he could blink she was there, arms wrapped around him, hugging him tighter than Mulder felt possible. He pulled her into his arms and felt the chill where her bare skin touched his, her lack of body heat strange but he didn't care. She tried to pull back from his embrace but he clung to her even tighter, refusing to let go as he felt the first sting of tears in his eyes. She didn't fight, she simply melded into his arms and stayed still. He gradually released her from his embrace and took her out to arm's length, studying her face intently. Her red eyes still brimmed with tears and he brushed one away with his thumb, feeling how porcelain smooth her skin had become. She smiled again and he looked back to her eyes and tried to think of something appropriate to say.<p>

"I missed you," he managed, feeling stupid as soon as the words left his mouth, "so much, so so much." Scully laughed and the sound sent a shiver down his spine, it was a more melodic noise than he had expected.

"I missed you too," she whispered. Her voice was oddly musical, as if she was singing to him, and he immediately loved the sound. "It took everything I had not to come back to you right away but I knew I couldn't, there were more important things I had to do first, it wasn't safe." Mulder felt a flash of anger wash over him at the idea that she considered other things more important than finding him and letting him know she was OK, but he brushed it away quickly.

"You look so beautiful," he told her, reaching out to twirl her hair through his fingers. She smiled even wider.

"You think so?" she asked. "I was so afraid that you'd take one look at me and turn away in disgust. I know I did the first time I looked in a mirror." Mulder looked confused for a moment.

"You can see yourself in a mirror?" he asked, regretting the question as soon as he'd said it, it seemed so untactful. Scully laughed again.

"The laws of physics are universal Mulder," she almost scolded, "I still exist as matter, therefore I reflect in a mirror. There's nothing paranormal about me, I'm just another animal on this planet like you." Mulder grinned.

"It's so great to hear you lecturing me on this stuff again, I missed that," he told her, making her giggle slightly. They continued to simply look at one another until Mulder felt someone standing beside him.

"Shall we head inside?" Edwin asked. Scully turned to him and smiled.

"Edwin, thank you so much," she said, reaching out to hug him. "Thank you for bringing him here."

"It's still dangerous," he replied, returning her hug. "He doesn't have the protection we do, he can't defend himself. I can't ask the others to protect him for you."

"I know," she whispered, breaking away and reaching for Mulder to lead him inside. He followed her up the steps to the porch and into the house. The rooms were large and light, with white washed wooden furniture and handmade rugs that looked like heirlooms which had been passed down for generations. Scully moved toward a large sofa and sat down on one end, pulling Mulder down beside her. He put his arm around her as the others took seats themselves.

"I haven't introduced myself," the young man from the porch said, "I'm Harrison. This is my partner Gideon," he continued indicating the other man who was dressed slightly smarter. "We live upstairs."

"Carlisle told me a little," Mulder replied.

"We've been helping Dana adjust to her new life," Gideon explained.

"You've been..." Mulder faltered.

"Vampires?" Gideon suggested, Mulder nodded nervously, "it's fine to say it, it's not a bad word here."

"You've been vampires a long time?" Mulder asked them both.

"I have," Gideon replied, "I was turned in 1832. Harrison is much younger, he only turned two years ago."

"I might be younger than you that way but my human age is seven years older," Harrison retorted and Mulder sensed this was some ongoing domestic squabble he had unwittingly wandered into.

"Our age can be a source of confusion and occasional animosity," Edwin explained, clearly sensing Mulder's unspoken question, "it can be a little galling, especially to recently turned vampires, when you meet a seventeen year old who's actually a hundred years or more your senior. As humans you unwittingly judge people on their age simply because an older person has more experience, more to draw on, so you respect their opinions more than a youngster. You have to learn to let go of that idea when you're with vampires. Most of the vampires around here are newborns though so the antagonism is generally at a minimum."

"Newborns?" Mulder questioned.

"It's a term we use to describe a vampire within five years of turning. They tend to be more unpredictable and driven by instinct than older vampires who have had time to get to know and understand themselves. Dana here is just a baby in our terms and Harrison too, although because Dana was turned with a specific goal in her head, she's a lot more focused than most."

"Yeah, she's only run off to Canada once, I've already had to find Harrison nineteen times!" Gideon grinned at Scully.

"I was claustrophobic," Scully retorted, "I wanted some space to think."

"So you ran to Canada?" Mulder asked her incredulously, "that's over 600 miles away."

"I'm very fast," Scully told him with a wry smile. Mulder continued to stare at her in disbelief.

"Why Canada?" he asked eventually.

"Wide open spaces, no humans," she replied simply. "I needed to get away from..." she paused, "from everything." She looked at Edwin and Mulder sensed something unspoken passing between them. Although he couldn't quite put his finger on it yet, he sensed there was some special bond between the pair.

"I cannot begin to describe the difficulty of the transformation," Edwin explained slowly, "even for someone like Dana who knew exactly what she was agreeing to become. To go from a regular human life, even one as unusual as yours, to living on the fringes of society and becoming effectively invisible to the world is a very hard thing to do. You must also consider that the change is physical too, you're coming to terms with a drastically new body, new senses and a new way of looking at the world while all this is happening. It can be overwhelming. Then, there's the matter of eating." Scully looked away out of the window as Edwin continued. "Your fellow humans are suddenly one step down the food chain from you, rather than equals. You're looking at them through the eyes of a predator. Your next door neighbour is suddenly a perfectly acceptable meal option, there's a lot to come to terms with." Mulder noticed that everyone in the room except Edwin seemed to have tensed, Edwin seemed to notice too. "Let's take a walk and discuss this later" he suggested. Mulder nodded in agreement and the tension in the room seemed to dissolve a little.

"So have you lived here since you," Mulder paused as he searched for the correct word, "changed?"

"Almost," she told him, "Edwin couldn't risk moving me too far while the transformation was in progress so once he got me out of the funeral home he took me to his house to wait it out." Mulder flinched at the memory of the funeral home as a vision of Scully's cold, lifeless body appeared unbidden in his mind. He had accompanied Scully's immediate family to the Chapel of Rest to say their goodbyes the day after after her apparent death and the image of her body had imprinted itself onto his brain and refused to leave. She had looked so calm and peaceful lying there but Mulder had felt the opposite as he had stood staring uncomprehendingly into her face, willing her with all his soul just to open her eyes again. He had prayed to every deity he knew of that day to bring his partner back to him, offering his own life in exchange. Now he realised that maybe he had one of them to thank and wondered with a small shiver if they would be expecting payment soon.

"How long were you... dead?" he asked quietly.

"I guess it depends on whether or not you consider me dead now," Scully said slowly, "biology 101 teaches us that there are seven processes that an organism must carry out in order to be classed as alive. Vampires perform four of them and there are solid arguments for another two so according to a biologist I'm not technically alive, but then I doubt they'd consider me dead either." Mulder stared at her with his eyebrows raised.

"You've really thought about this haven't you?"

"A lot," she agreed with a grin, "but then who wouldn't? Especially from a scientific perspective I've found the whole process unendingly fascinating. Not needing to breathe anymore is an incredible sensation and takes time to fully accept. Also, combine that with not feeling cold and enhanced strength it turns open-water swimming into a whole new world."

"But you all appear to breath," Mulder pointed out as he looked around, "if you don't need to then why?"

"Firstly to maintain the illusion of being human," Edwin explained, "it may be a subtle action that you don't notice in others but you would notice it not happening, it raises a subconscious red flag to humans if we don't keep it up. And secondly we still need to breathe air in through our noses and past our olfactory neurons in order to maintain our sense of smell. As predators we rely heavily on it and like our other senses it's highly tuned, far more so than a human's. Not maintaining our breathing cuts off that sense which is as uncomfortable to us as being blindfolded would be to you. Not to mention that the vocal cords work by air, not breathing equals not talking." Mulder nodded slowly as he absorbed the new information.

"So you woke up at Edwin's house," he repeated aloud to Scully, "when?"

"Three days after I was bitten in the hospital," Scully told him, "that's the average time for the venom to work the transformation."

"I converted my basement into a miniature apartment," Edwin explained, "the room is very secure, it needs to be because vampires are highly unpredictable when they first awaken. That's why I couldn't risk driving Dana here during the transformation. A day and a half had already passed before I was able to make the switch and get her away from the funeral home, three days is the average but it's not an exact science and she could have woken up much sooner. If she'd awoken on the freeway surrounded by humans in the other cars she could have automatically attacked and there was no guarantee I could have restrained her."

"So you locked her in your basement?" Mulder asked dubiously.

"I locked us both down there and waited for her to wake up. Luckily I have HBO," he explained raising a small smile from everyone. "When she did wake she was confused for a few moments but her memories came back very quickly and she was able to think rationally within half an hour which is something of a record. I have a theory that Dana's gift is logic."

"Her gift?" Mulder asked.

"All vampires are created with what we've loosely termed a gift, some are very obvious like Leyla's mind-reading but most are very subtle indeed and can be very hard to quantify. I appear to have an ability to ask the right questions in order to detect medical health issues in others, Harrison here is a brilliant chemist and Gideon is the ultimate people-person, he can talk you into almost anything. When Dana is presented with a set of facts she instantly sees the most logical way to fit them together and that helped in those first minutes as she understood very rapidly how best to arrive at a point of self-control. I had arranged a supply of blood at the basement apartment and helped her gather control over a few days, then I asked where she wanted to live and she chose here."

"OK one more thing," Mulder continued, gaining a few snorts of laughter.

"Only one?" asked Harrison.

"For now," Mulder grinned, "how exactly did you switch Dana's body without anyone noticing, and who did you switch it with?"

"I'd been hoping Dana would agree to the transformation for several weeks and so I'd kept feelers out for any Jane Doe's matching her description hitting morgues. Luckily one turned up in Kentucky a week beforehand, a search of the records there will show that her body simply went missing but with all the paperwork no one ever chases these things for a Jane Doe. I used my contacts to keep the body in storage and then positioned a friend at the funeral home to drive her body to the crematorium - it's disturbing how little ID you need to drive a body away really. En route there I made the switch and he delivered Jane Doe to the crematorium and her ashes then went to the final service by the ocean. I'm just eternally grateful that there wasn't an open casket funeral, it would have made things a whole lot more difficult."

"I remember the ashes being late to arrive there," Mulder mused, "Charlie joked that you would insist on being late to your own funeral." Scully laughed.

"He said that? Oh if I ever see him again I'm going to get him back big time, I may just have to arrange a haunting once all this is over."

"Speaking of that," Mulder began, "we need to talk about what's been happening lately." Scully shook her head.

"No, I've just got you back and that is the last thing I want to talk about, certainly not before we've had some time to catch up." She smiled sadly up at him and Mulder noticed Harrison elbow Gideon sharply in the ribs.

"And there's our cue to leave," he whispered loudly. Edwin and Gideon nodded and all three men stood and headed for the large french doors that opened out onto the beach.

"We'll catch you later," Gideon said as they made their way outside leaving Scully and Mulder alone together for the first time in months.


	20. I'm Just Trying to Find My Feet

Mulder and Edwin strolled down the beach slowly, staying just far enough away from the surf to avoid getting wet.

"Sorry to pull you away from the house so soon," Edwin said, "it's just best not to discuss eating habits in a room full of hungry vampires. It can be a bit of a sore spot" Mulder nodded his understanding. He felt bad about leaving Scully behind so soon after seeing her but this was something he really needed to learn in order to fully understand her.

"So how do the vampires here get food?" Mulder asked hesitantly.

"Well everyone is different so there's various ways. I'll be straight with you and say that several of the group here hunt humans regularly. What Dana said about being fast, that's more true than you know. In open space an average vampire can clock fifty miles an hour. Faster runners like Dana and Harrison can reach sixty and the very occasional one like Thea can outpace even them, that gives a fairly wide hunting space without attracting attention." Edwin looked over his shoulder and saw Mulder's face frozen in a strange expression. "Dana's not part of the group that goes after humans routinely," he added in what he hoped was a reassuring voice, "but you do know she's killed several don't you?" Mulder nodded mutely.

"Dr. Scanlon, Krycek, Spender..." he recalled aloud. Suddenly the image of Scully attacking Spender hit him full force. He saw her lips on his skin as she bit into his neck. Within seconds he was retching violently into the surf. Edwin stood by as Mulder recovered, looking completely undeterred by the reaction.

"It's not the prettiest thought is it?" he asked kindly, Mulder shook his head and sat down on the sand, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth. Edwin took a seat beside him and together they watched the water.

"How does Scully get food then?" Mulder asked quietly.

"Animals mostly," Edwin said, "there's plenty of big game out in the woods and we're built as predators. Gideon told me he saw her take down a moose three weeks ago, said it was the funniest thing he ever saw, damn creature was four times her size! Then there's the town blood bank, we keep an eye on anything going to waste down there and... shall we say, liberate it. She has gone out with Tim and Leyla a few times though, they lead the groups that go after humans because of Leyla's gift."

"What's that?" Mulder asked, trying to fight back the image of Scully as a killer.

"Leyla is the only vampire I have ever come across who can read all minds," Edwin explained. "She can instantly detect a person's intentions and know their past. It's why Dana will hunt with her because Leyla can point her toward, to put it simply, 'bad people'."

"You mean the sort of person you once..." Mulder began but didn't finish the sentence as he remembered Edwin's regret at what he had once done.

"Exactly. They hit up the seediest bars they can, known crack houses, wherever the less desirable elements tend to congregate and Leyla picks out the ones with, well, less than honorable intentions. Dana's young still, very young in our terms and the blood lust can be very unmanageable in the early days, especially if you've recently tasted human blood. With the work she's doing towards bringing down the new Syndicate she's been getting the taste of human blood on occasion and that makes her desire it more. By taking out humans who plan to kill in their futures, she can sort of justify it to herself, the life of one in exchange for the lives of many."

"Is that how Leyla always hunts then?" Mulder asked. Edwin smiled and shook his head.

"No, Leyla and Tim are of the school of thought that humans are fair game and to be honest, they're in the majority. They usually don't care where they hunt but Leyla knows Dana doesn't feel the same way and helps her out." Mulder shifted uncomfortably.

"You say they live near here?" he asked, looking over to the woods.

"Yes, but don't worry about them," Edwin reassured him, "they know all about you thanks to Dana and they know how important you are to her. They're not vicious killing machines, they only hunt when they need to and they're not about to take out a friend's lover."

"Will I get to meet them?" Mulder asked, trying to ignore Edwin's comment on his relationship with Scully.

"I would say that's a certainty," Edwin laughed, "if there's one thing we love it's an excuse to socialise in big groups. Word spread pretty fast that Dana's, and I quote "pet human", was coming up to the house and everybody wants to get a good look at the pair of you."

"That's reassuring," Mulder deadpanned, "I get to be the star attraction at a vampire party." Edwin laughed.

"I think they're more interested in Dana to be honest, not many vampires stick with their human relationships after the change. Most are too busy getting on with their new lives to really think about the past that much, everything becomes a blur anyway. But Dana was focused from the beginning on bringing down the Syndicate and she never stopped thinking about you. She's been desperate to get to you since the beginning but she knew how dangerous that would be. There's no way she could have been in the same room as you without hurting you, even killing you, so she kept away and plunged head first into the work. What Gideon said about her running off to Canada, that was the first day Holly came here to update us in person on the Bureau and what she knew about the Syndicate's dealings. Dana caught your scent on her clothes and just bolted. For a second Gideon thought she was going after you but Leyla was there and she picked up Dana's thoughts - that she was just running as far from you and that desire to be with you as she could."

"Holly?" Mulder asked incredulously, "Skinner's assistant? She's one of you?"

"Yep," Edwin grinned, "told you we can hide in plain sight when we want to. She's our new contact in the Bureau, Alexis had to leave before it became too obvious that she wasn't aging. One day Holly will too."

"Did it take Gideon long to find Scully after she ran?" Mulder asked, imagining Scully alone and frightened in a forest somewhere.

"No, he gave her a few hours head start and tracked her up across the border, he's used to it with Harrison," Edwin grinned. "He found her near some cliffs staring out at the ocean and they just talked through the night. Gideon has a lot of experience and Dana respects that. He reassured her that things would get easier and one day she'd be able to be with you again then he brought her home."

"Why now?" Mulder asked. "Why bring me here now?"

"You were uncovering too much, we needed to get you on our side before you inadvertently brought everything down on us. Holly had been up only a few days before and had made a point of making sure she was covered in your scent so Dana knew she could take it." Mulder had a brief flashback to a day in the office earlier in the week. He had found Holly in his office crying, she'd explained that someone had brought up the Modell case and she'd suddenly found herself really missing Scully. Mulder had given her a mug of tea which she had barely touched and she'd calmed down, hugging him on her way out.

"That was all a ruse to get me to hug her..." he mumbled.

"Holly's a great little actress isn't she?" asked Edwin with a grin. Mulder turned to him sharply.

"I need to know about your plans, what you are doing, why kill off the Syndicate?" he said firmly.

"You'd need to talk to Dana about that," Edwin replied, "this is all her. I've not been involved at all except sending friends her way to help out if they want. I don't know her overall strategy."

"Let's get back to the house then," said Mulder, standing up and brushing sand from his legs, "I need to hear this." Edwin nodded and stood up beside him and they began making their way back down the beach toward the white house.

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><p><strong>Author Notes:<strong>

Thank you so much for the reviews everyone, they really mean a lot. Hello as well to all the new people who have followed and favorited this story in the last few weeks, you have no idea how happy those notification emails made me. While you guys have only just started part two, I'm now writing the chapters that will eventually bring it to a close and begin part three; I can't wait to see what you all think of the events that are to come. Just be assured there's a whole lot more left to tell. Some of you may have picked up a shift in chapter titles. I was struggling to name the chapters well so now I'm using song lyrics and titles that fit each one. This chapter's title is taken from David Ford's "_Trying to Find My Feet_" - go have a listen. Finally a thank you to my beta reader Ginger who continues to ask all the right questions that make me add so much more depth to this story.


	21. Weekend in New England

As they walked back along the beach to the house, Mulder saw a fire burning ahead of them and began to hear the sound of music playing. He heard Edwin stifle a snort of laughter.

"Guess your conversation about Dana's strategy will have to wait," Edwin said with a grin.

"What's going on?" Mulder asked him as they continued to walk and the fire gradually got bigger. Soon Mulder realised that a bonfire had been lit on the sand.

"Remember how I told you that vampires love to socialise?" he asked. "I guess you could call this your welcome party." Near the fire Mulder could make out a dozen or so figures, some were dancing, some sitting in the sand watching the surf and others were poking the fire or generally having fun; a few were even kicking a ball around nearby. One figure stood out to him, Scully's short silhouette was almost statue like watching his approach down the beach. As they got closer she walked out to join them.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I couldn't stop them."

"It's OK," Mulder replied with a smile, "I guess I can understand their interest and I have to admit it is somewhat reciprocated." He looked around at the group gathered around the bonfire. A few of the vampires were actively staring at him although most were pretending not to be interested; even so, a lot of red eyes were facing his way and despite the bonfire's heat Mulder found himself suppressing a shudder. "Who are they all?" he asked.

"Well you've met Gideon and Harrison," Scully began, pointing out their figures near the waterline. "The blonde girl just behind them poking the stick in the fire is Thea and the other two with her are Leyla and Tim who live out in the woods. The girls dancing over there by the steps are Joanna and Charlotte and the boys playing football are Edward, Mordecai and Lawrence. Those last five are some of our friends who hunt in this part of the country and down towards DC."

"I'm sorry, did you say Mordecai?" Mulder asked incredulously.

"Yeah, you hear some pretty unusual names around here," she replied, "I met an Ebeneezer a few weeks ago and last year Harrison ran into a couple called Aeliana and Marius."

"You're going to have to spell that for me sometime," Mulder told her, trying to wrap his tongue around the words in his head.

"Still, they're all pretty fascinated that you're called Fox. That one's unusual even here," she added with a smirk.

"Oh great, even in a group of vampires my name still draws attention," Mulder huffed looking deeply unimpressed.

"I put some burgers into the fire pit," Scully told him, clearly attempting to change the subject, "I think they should be ready by now." Mulder realised as she spoke that he felt hungry and tried to remember the last time he ate, soon realising it had been the previous evening at the diner en route to the house. He nodded to her as his stomach gave a loud rumble and she suppressed a giggle. She turned and crouched down by the fire, reaching in toward the base of the flames. Mulder gasped but Edwin put his hand on his forearm before he had chance to move.

"It's fine, we don't feel the heat much, it's more a strong tingling sensation, it would need to be much hotter to cause her any problems." As he finished speaking Scully stood up holding a small object wrapped in foil, she unwrapped it and Mulder caught the scent of the burger which made him feel even hungrier. It was a little more done than he usually liked but right now he would eat anything.

"I even remembered to buy buns," she told him looking rather pleased with herself and pointing to the plastic bag in the sand near the fire. She quickly stepped over and returned holding a white sesame seed covered bun into which she tossed the burger into before handing it to Mulder.

"Thanks," he said before taking a big bite. The burger tasted great and he had almost finished it before he noticed he was being watched by most of the vampires.

"Most of them have forgotten what it's like to eat human food," Scully whispered, "it's one of the first things that goes." Mulder held the burger out to her and raised his eyebrows. Her nose wrinkled and she sneered in only slightly faked disgust. "I wouldn't have eaten that when I was human," she informed him, "and now it smells like dog food."

"Your loss," Mulder replied, finishing the burger in one large bite. Scully laughed and shook her head at him. "Any more where that came from?" he asked hopefully wiping crumbs from his lips. "Sure, I stuck the whole pack in there," she told him. They sat down together by the fire and spent the next twenty minutes in silence as Mulder ate his way through four burgers and Scully edged closer to him each time she passed one over. By the end of the last burger she was nestled up beside him as his arm rested around her, pulling her closer. As he finished eating, one of the other vampires plopped down into the sand in front of them, pointedly glanced at Mulder's arm and grinned.

"So, you're the human we've been hearing about?" she said without waiting for a response, "I'm Leyla, me and my husband Tim own the little RV in the woods over there." She waved her hand in the general direction of the forest.

"Edwin mentioned you," Mulder said, "he said you've been helping Scully, erm, Dana, whatever you call her."

"Yep," Leyla said, grinning wider, "I take her to all the best places. The crack house last week was a real hoot!"

"Oh yeah," Scully retorted, sarcasm lacing every word, "filthy, stinking and filled with things I'd rather never think about again. Just where I wanted to eat. Whatever happened to a nice restaurant?"

"You're the one that insists on only eating the bad guys," Leyla laughed in response, "me however, I got a tasty accountant in the Waldorf Astoria a few weeks ago. Made use of their facilities whilst I was there too, waste not want not huh?" Scully scowled at her.

"You know I am an officer of the law," Mulder announced, trying hard to lighten the mood and make himself less uncomfortable, "I should probably be arresting you right now."

"Oh yeah?" Leyla asked, batting her eyelashes in his direction, "and how exactly do you think you'd get me to cooperate?"

"Why do you think I'm not bothering?" he replied with a grin. Leyla laughed.

"I like him Dana, he's gonna do well here." Scully grinned back at her as a scruffy haired man sat down and swung his arm around Leyla, reaching the other one forward in an offered handshake.

"Hi, I'm Tim," he said as Mulder reached his own free hand to accept Tim's, the coldness still startling him a little. "How you finding this whole thing then?"

"Erm," Mulder hesitated, "honestly I'm only just starting to get my head around it."

"It'll get easier," Tim said as a few of the others yelled that they were going hunting in the forest. Mulder watched them run at superhuman speed and vanish into the trees seconds later. "Dana says you're a Knicks fan," Tim continued in an obvious attempt to make Mulder feel less awkward, "perhaps we can watch a game together sometime?"

"You sure that's not an excuse to get me alone and unprotected?" Mulder asked, turning back to him. Tim laughed. "Nah! I wouldn't do that to Dana, no matter how tasty you smell." He made a big show of sniffing the air and raised his eyebrows at Mulder. "Delicious!" He'd barely got the word out before Scully reached over and punched him, a resounding crack coming from where it landed.

"Oi, leave him alone," Leyla laughed.

"You tell him to stop sniffing my..." she hung on the next word, unsure what to say.

"What were you going to say?" Mulder asked her quietly but she just bit her lip and looked uncomfortable. Leyla leaned over so Mulder could see her out of the corner of his eye.

"She was thinking boyfriend," she mouthed in amusement. Scully glared at her.

"Oh thank you very much!" she hissed. Leyla laughed again and stood up.

"My pleasure. Right, I'm hungry," she waggled her eyebrows at Mulder, "and he's not helping. I'm heading into the city. Need anything?"

"We got a call this afternoon that Massachusetts General has a couple dozen contaminated blood bags about to hit the incinerator, no need to let them go to waste right?" Scully answered.

"Indeed not, I'll pick them up. You two enjoy your evening, try not to keep him up all night eh Dana?" she winked and was gone, followed closely by Tim who saluted in farewell. Scully turned from their retreating shapes and looked at him, a nervous smile on her face. Mulder figured that if she were still capable of blushing her cheeks would be bright red.

"I don't mind you thinking of me as your boyfriend," he smiled at her. She smiled wider and looked down to the sand and back up to him through her eyelashes.

"It just sounds so... teenaged," she explained. Mulder shrugged.

"Who cares? It's not like the normal rules apply around here anyway," he looked around. "All the couples here seem remarkably content together."

"Well vampires mate for life, if you can call it that," she said, her eyebrows furrowing as Mulder's shot up.

"Really? That's what you call a long term commitment."

"Well we're kind of frozen like this, we don't change much so once we experience falling in love we stay that way," she looked at him and smiled again, snuggling into his shoulder. He stroked her hair and stifled a yawn.

"I think I'm gonna have to get some sleep," he apologised. She looked up at him in surprise.

"Oh God I'm sorry, I never even thought."

"It's ok. Edwin said there were beds here?"

"Yeah I have one in my room," she told him. "Listen I'll join you there in a few minutes, I just need to... eat." She looked nervous as she admitted it, "I won't be long."

"Don't worry about it, I'll be kind of dull anyway, stay out here with your friends," he told her. She regarded him quizzically.

"We'll see. I just got you back Mulder and Edwin's already stolen you once, I'd kind of like us to stay close tonight." She stood up and stretched out lithely. "I won't be long." Mulder nodded and she took off toward the trees at a breathtaking pace that far outstripped the other group who had left before. Mulder saw her pause at the forest's edge and wave, he waved back before she turned and vanished into the darkness. As soon as she had gone from view, Mulder suddenly felt exposed and surrounded by predators. He stood up himself and brushed the sand from his jeans, feeling eyes on him in every direction. He tried to reassure himself that these were Scully's friends and they wouldn't attack him, out of loyalty to her if nothing else, but he still felt uncomfortable.

"Night," he mumbled toward the remaining few vampires on the beach. A few smiled or bade him good night in return as he made his way back to the house where he knew a bed was waiting for him, feeling slow and clumsy as he moved.

* * *

><p><strong>Author Notes: <strong>

The title of this comes from Barry Manilow (yes I like Barry Manilow and I'm not ashamed to admit it). The story in _Weekend in New England_ just seems to sum up Mulder and Scully at this point so perfectly and is what I imagined playing during this part of the story and what I listened to as I proof read it, along with _Can't Smile Without You_ (which also forms the soundtrack to this chapter but belongs almost exclusively to the Hellboy fandom nowadays!)


	22. I'm Gonna Fall

"Mulder?" Scully's voice cut through the darkness of the house and startled him.

"I'm up here!" he called back. As he strained to listen he heard a faint noise from the wooden staircase.

"Are you ok?" she asked, her voice emanating from somewhere just behind him and making him jump.

"Jeez Scully, don't sneak up on me like that," he scolded, making her chuckle. "I'm fine," he assured.

"Then why are you creeping around the house in the dark?"

"Erm, honestly, I couldn't find the light switch." Mulder heard a snort of laughter from somewhere near his right shoulder.

"Watch your eyes," she told him. The bright light still made him squint as it switched on, after a moment he forced them open again to find her leaning against the doorframe grinning at him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. "You should be down on the beach with your friends. I'm just going to sleep."

"I want to be with you," she told him quietly, "it's all I've wanted since I got here."

"What will you do all night?"

"I don't care," she replied, "make some memories I suppose." He stared at her quizzically.

"What does that mean?" he asked. She shrugged.

"I've made a lot of memories these past couple of months and a lot of them haven't been particularly pleasant ones. Along with the enhanced physical traits like speed and our senses, we also have enhanced memories. Perfect instant recall, better than the best eidetic human memory" she shot him a knowing wink. "Of course it's a blessing and a curse as you know well." She grimaced slightly.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked quietly. She shook her head almost imperceptibly and moved to sit perfectly still on the edge of the bed for a few long moments. He joined her and eventually she lifted her eyes to meet his.

"I'm thinking that I killed Spender," she began slowly, "and that the memory of doing it is embedded in my memory for all eternity. The stale cigarette smell on his skin, the taste of his blood, I'll never be able to forget it." She looked as if she might be sick. Mulder reached around and pulled her slightly toward him as his arm prickled with goose flesh from the chill.

"I never did understand why" he told her quietly, "It doesn't seem like your style, going after the smoking bastard for revenge."

"It wasn't about revenge," she explained, "well I suppose it was a bit, I used my anger at him and the others for everything they'd done to push myself forward and begin this whole process."

"Process?" Mulder asked.

"The process of stopping colonization, it had to start with their deaths. I'll explain it all in the morning once you've had some sleep but there is a plan and that was step one."

"OK, you know I trust you," Mulder told her, "still, it doesn't seem like you. The way you went after them."

"You never saw me in the room with Luther Lee Boggs after you were shot in Raleigh," she told him, her voice taking on a darker tone. "I don't think you've ever seen me truly angry and willing to do anything. I guess that's because I only ever needed to act like that when you were in danger, so you were never there." Her tone lightened and she raised an eyebrow at him and smirked.

"I suppose not," Mulder thought aloud, trying to picture Scully in full, angry vengeance mode and failing totally, the image just didn't gel with him. "Anyway, maybe that memory of killing Spender is lodged in there forever," he brushed some stray hairs from her temple, "but perhaps we can drown it out with happier ones?" She turned and looked at him, their eyes locked with only centimetres between them. Mulder felt his pulse quicken. He leaned forward, closing the gap between them until he felt the chill of her lips brushing his. He deepened the kiss, sighing as he pressed against her. Her eyes widened as he did and he felt himself suddenly pushed backwards into the bed as she shot up into a standing position several feet away.

"Are you crazy?" she hissed. He raised an eyebrow at her, trying to ignore his bruised ego.

"You're honestly asking me that?" he questioned. "Spooky Mulder from the basement remember?"

"That's not what I meant!" she retorted angrily. "Doing that could get you killed!" He looked confused.

"Why?" he asked, although Edwin's warnings in the car were beginning to replay in his head and he was starting to feel rather foolish.

"Think about it! I already have to constantly control my thirst around you, how do you think things would end if I let my guard down like that? How in control of your thoughts and emotions do you feel when you're..." She struggled to find the words.

"In flagrante delicto?" he asked, eliciting a small smile from her as memories of phony rain dances, wet school reunions, and enforced room sharing tumbled into both of their minds.

"Yeah, that," she agreed, her anger rapidly deflating. "It would end badly. I don't think I need to draw you a picture."

"So..." Mulder trailed off. "I guess that puts a hold on several of my plans."

"Maybe one day," she mused, a smile playing around on her lips, "but for now I think you should sleep."

"Will you still be here when I wake up?"

"Yep, not going anywhere," she assured him. Mulder laid down in the bed and rolled onto his side, watching as Scully sat on the padded window seat that overlooked the ocean and drew her knees up to her chest. Down on the sand the final embers of the fire were burning out. His eyelids felt heavy and he soon drifted off, dreaming of the ocean.

* * *

><p><strong>Author Notes:<strong>

The title for this chapter is an Ash song that seemed to fit this little moment well. I'm so excited to share the next chapter with you all, so much so I might release it early (even though you and my beta) are catching up on me far too rapidly right now! Thanks for all the new follows and reviews, they really do mean a lot!


	23. State of The Union

The next morning Mulder awoke to a room filled with dazzling sunshine. He shielded his eyes as they adjusted, trying to look around and feeling more refreshed and energised than he remembered in months. The room was bright and sunlight streamed through the slats of the blind that covered the window, which Scully must have pulled down after he fell asleep. As her name crossed his fuzzy half-sleeping mind, Mulder realised that she wasn't in the room. Panic gripped him for a moment as he remembered her insistence that she wouldn't leave in the night. As he looked around he noticed the door to the room's en-suite bathroom was slightly ajar, he listened and heard the sound of running water and the electric hum of a shower pump. He relaxed and let out a slow breath, only then spotting Scully's note beside him that read "in the shower, back in ten". As he lay back and enjoyed the warmth of the sun on his skin, he heard a female voice singing. At first he thought someone had turned on a radio in another room but as he listened an incredulous smile spread across his face, Scully was singing in the shower. Mulder had heard her sing occasionally before although only ever muffled through the cardboard-thin walls of cheap motels. Her voice had never been awful but he knew her insistence that she couldn't carry a tune was no attempt at false modesty. Now her newfound perfect memory and vocal chords allowed her to sing beautifully and Mulder closed his eyes to enjoy the sound more fully. He couldn't make out the words but that didn't matter to him. Scully reached what sounded like the end of the song and stopped as the sound of running water also ended abruptly and the electric hum ceased, leaving the room almost silent except for the sound of the waves rolling up on the beach outside and crashing against nearby rocks.

"Morning sleepyhead," her voice sang from the doorway as she appeared wrapped in a towel. Her hair was drying rapidly, as if it was rejecting the remaining water which also beaded strangely on her exposed skin, running down it in a manner more akin to glass than human skin.

"Morning," Mulder croaked, his throat feeling dry, "did you stay here all night?"

"All night," she assured him, crossing the room to pass him a glass of water which he drank down eagerly. She picked up a hefty looking paperback from nearby, "I'm almost three books into this series now, I only started the first one an hour or so after you fell asleep."

"What were you doing for the first hour?" he asked.

"Watching you sleep," she answered with a grin. "I forgot how peaceful it is. I miss it."

"You can't sleep at all? I thought Edwin said he did every few months," Mulder asked curiously, setting the glass back down beside her book.

"Edwin is much older so he can just about manage once every few months. I'm still a newborn, I have far too much energy to even contemplate sleeping. It doesn't bother me normally, actually I like it. All those extra hours for reading and research."

"Is that what you've been doing then? When you've had some down time from trying to halt an alien invasion of course."

"Mostly," she agreed with a laugh, "I've been reading some of the classics I never found time for before. Austen, Bronte, the complete works of Shakespeare. Oh and I've also fully caught up on every series of Star Trek," Mulder laughed. "For tips on handling alien cultures of course," she explained with a grin.

"Of course," Mulder nodded knowledgeably. He looked around the room. "So why do you have beds here if they're only used a couple of nights a year?"

"Well first of all they're used for more than that, well, mine not so much but the other bedsprings see their fair share of action." She gave Mulder a wink and looked up through the ceiling toward Harrison and Gideon's room. "And second of all it helps maintain the facade. We're isolated out here but the locals are still aware of us so we try to act human, occasionally replacing furniture and homewares, that kind of thing. We also do a weekly grocery shop."

"Isn't that kind of wasteful?' Mulder asked.

"We donate all the food to homeless shelters, different ones each time and with different members delivering it," she explained, "it was Edwin's idea." Mulder just nodded.

"You've got it all figured out here huh?" he asked vaguely.

"Vampires haven't stayed hidden for hundreds of years without a little forward planning," Scully smiled as she wandered over to an excessively large wardrobe and began rifling through the clothes inside.

"Jeez Scully how much clothing does one person need?" Mulder asked incredulously.

"Well I didn't exactly bring any with me when I moved here," she teased, "besides I was gifted with pretty much the perfect figure, do you have any idea how amazing it is for a woman to not have to worry about her figure ever again? I may have gone a little crazy with a credit card the first time I went shopping."

"I am so happy I don't have to pay that off," Mulder retorted, and tried his best not to stare as Scully shimmied into her clothes. He noticed that several prominent scars she had accrued over the years had vanished along with something else. "What happened to your tattoo?" he asked.

"They sort of burn up during the transformation process," she explained as she buttoned up a blouse, "scars, tattoos, burns - anything along those lines just vanishes. It's quite strange when you first wake up, you don't actually know the back of your own hand anymore." Mulder looked at the back of his hands involuntarily, noticing a small burn and a scar that had been there since his teenage years. When he looked back up Scully stood in front of him smiling.

"So you want to get dressed and hear all about what we're doing to stop the apocalypse?"

"Absolutely, but on one condition," he told her. She looked at him curiously, "let's do it over breakfast."

Twenty minutes later Mulder, Scully and a small group of others were assembled in the living room, Mulder just finishing off some toast.

"So let me check I have this all correct," Mulder began, wiping the crumbs from his chin. "The documents you found at Mount Weather show that final colonization is determined to begin on December 22nd 2012, that's when the leaders of the colonists will next come to Earth. You need to get them here before then so you brought together the leaders of the world's shadow governments and killed them to effectively cut off the head of the organization. To send it into chaos, knowing that would force the colonists' hand and bring them back to oversee the re-establishment of the program."

"That's right," Gideon agreed, "and we believe it's worked. The most up-to-date information we have shows a hastily scheduled, top secret gathering of military leaders at El Rico Air Force base in eight weeks time. We think that's when the leaders will be meeting to implement whatever new strategy they're planning."

"So what happens then?" Mulder asked.

"An all out assault," Mordecai replied bluntly. Mulder had learned earlier that he was an ex-military man who had been turned in Vietnam. "It's the one thing they absolutely won't anticipate and after deep discussion, pretty much our only option. We'll bring in computer experts to take down their ship and cut off their escape just in case, but from what our research tells us we should be able to take them down provided we can assemble a large enough group. I'm estimating I can gather 80 to 100 vampires to come with us."

"But won't that just result in an even bigger wave coming in a few weeks or months?" Mulder queried.

"The documents we stole explained that their entire civilization travels together like an interstellar caravan," Scully told him, "there wouldn't be any more of them to come."

"But we've seen more than just the one ship," he pressed.

"Yes, but this is the only one that actually houses the colonists. The ship in Antarctica was effectively a mobile factory to house the infected human hosts, and the smaller ones are just task ships. Sure we'll miss a few hundred pilots and the few colonists assigned to monitoring those factories but this is the mother ship, take it out and there's little they can do."

"How is a ship that big going to fit in a hangar?" Mulder asked, worried that all his questions would begin to annoy Scully soon, but she continued to answer without looking even mildly perturbed.

"It won't. We saw photographs of the landing in 1973 when the same ship visited to strike the original deal with the Syndicate, when they first took Cassandra. The ship itself landed outside right by the large doors at the end of the building."

"Was... was my father in that photograph?" Mulder asked quietly. Scully looked up at him.

"Yes." Mulder closed his eyes for a few moments. "I can show you," Scully began but he shook his head vehemently.

"No. That was the night he agreed to sacrifice Samantha, I don't think I want to see it." Scully nodded and tried to smile, giving up after a second. "So this is the only way," Mulder continued, "an actual, old-fashioned battle?"

"We believe this gives us the best chance at destroying them," Mordecai answered, "you've seen our speed and we'll show you how strong we are soon, plus we're immune to both the black oil and the alien retrovirus in the green blood. We have no reason to believe the juvenile colonists will be able to withstand us and the fully grown greys seem practically defenseless. Besides you know what they say, the best defence is a good offense, this is perhaps the most offensive path we can take."

Mulder nodded slowly. The idea of a traditional battle didn't sit well with him, especially one with Scully at the middle of it, but he knew that she wouldn't have rushed into any decisions and the stolen documents they had gathered backed up all their theories - this did seem to be the best solution and it was certainly the least predictable.

"OK guys, I have one final question," he told the assembled group to multiple grins, "where on Earth are you going to find computer experts that can disable an alien spaceship?" Scully looked at him as the others turned to her.

"Actually," she began slowly, "we were hoping you could help us with that." Mulder stared at her as it slowly dawned on him what, and who, she was talking about.

"You're planning on relinquishing the fate of the human race... to the three stooges?"

* * *

><p><strong>Author Notes:<strong>

The title of this chapter comes from a song by David Ford, as well as having the obvious link to US politics. Hopefully you now have some idea of how the story will progress over the coming weeks, thanks for sticking with me!


	24. We Are The Boys

"You're sure about this?" Mulder asked again.

"Yes," Scully sighed, standing up from Mulder's couch. It was Monday evening and the two had driven back from Scully's new home that afternoon. "We need them, as soon as possible." Mulder looked up at her.

"I don't know how I'm ever going to explain all this," he told her, "they'll think I'm crazy."

"They already do," Scully grinned as she looked toward the window, "their bus just pulled up, I'd know that engine sound anywhere. I'll be in the bedroom ok, no need to shock them too much when they arrive." Mulder nodded mutely as she squeezed his hand and disappeared too quickly into his room, silently shutting the door behind her. Mulder took several deep breaths and rose from the sofa just as three sharp knocks rapped on his front door. He made his way over and opened it, Frohike pushing his way in before he even had chance to let go of the handle.

"Thank God," Frohike muttered, half glaring at him, "we were worried. You never said you were going out of town."

"Sorry guys," Mulder muttered as Langly breezed past him, "I was chasing a lead." He turned to close the door and realised Byers still stood framed in the doorway staring at him.

"You found her," Byers said quietly. Mulder coughed in surprise.

"What?" he muttered, hoping he sounded confused. Frohike and Langly were staring silently at Byers who stepped in and pushed the door closed behind him.

"You found her, that's where you were all weekend."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Mulder feigned, trying not to make eye contact with him.

"Cut the BS Mulder," Byers snapped, shocking all three men, "I can read it in every line of your face. Trust me, I know. You're not the only one who searched the country looking for the woman you loved and my God it took me a damn sight longer to find mine; you look exactly the way I felt when I found Suzanne." Byers continued to stare at him and Mulder felt his insides squirming.

"Is it true?" Frohike whispered in a tone softer than any Mulder had ever heard him use, "did you find her?"

"Yeah, he found me," Scully's voice sounded from behind them, causing all four of them to spin around in fright. Mulder heard the collective gasps from all around him. It only took Frohike a moment to recompose himself before he strode forward to Scully and pulled her into a hug as if nothing between them had changed.

"It's so good to have you back Scully," he told her, his voice cracking ever so slightly, "we need you to keep him under control." She laughed.

"Don't worry, I've got his back from now on," she assured him as he released her from the hug and Byers stepped across to shake her hand.

"Agent Scully," he began, unsure of how to finish his sentence, "I... I've missed you."

"I missed you too Byers," she smiled. "There's something I need to speak to you about later." Byers frowned slightly but she shook her head. He stepped back and everyone turned to look at Langly who was pressed up backwards against Mulder's kitchen counter looking pale and wary.

"What's the matter you great pansy?" Frohike hissed, "the woman's been dead all these months and you don't even come and say hello?" Langly swallowed hard.

"I'm the one who did all that research on vampires," he began shakily, flicking his eyes over to Mulder's for a brief moment before returning his narrowing gaze to Scully. "She's a killer Mulder, no matter how civilised she might seem she could snap and kill all four of us any second."

"Don't be stupid," Frohike began but Mulder cut him off with a wave of his hand.

"I was with her all weekend Langly," he assured him, "with her and dozens more like her and I'm fine. She's not going to hurt us."

"She's a vampire!" Langly half-shouted in a strangled voice. "She's not human Mulder! Do you understand that? She's not Scully, she can't be."

"Langly I..." Scully began but he cut her off.

"No, I don't want to hear it," he snapped. "I'm the only one in this room with my head screwed on right. You let this killing machine into your apartment Mulder, you saw that video tape, you know what she and her so-called friends are capable of." The room fell silent.

"Look, I'll go," Scully said quietly, "you need to talk to them Mulder and I'll just complicate things."

"Scully... Dana, don't go because of this jerk," Frohike said softly, jabbing his thumb in the direction of Langly, who shook his head as if the world had gone mad.

"It's ok Frohike, I've got things I need to do anyway," she said, squeezing his arm gently and giving him a sad smile, "sitting around all this time is making me go stir-crazy."

"We'll talk to him," Byers told her sternly.

"I know you will," Scully said, "I'll see you later Byers." She shot Mulder a smile and glanced quickly at Langly. "Talk to them Mulder, make them understand," he nodded.

"I will." Scully let go of Frohike's arm and stepped to the window.

"There's a perfectly good front door," Mulder informed her.

"I know, I just need to stretch my legs," she grinned, pulling up the window frame in one movement and stepping out of it and onto the fire escape without making a sound. "Be good," she said before jumping down. Frohike gasped and crossed to the window but in the few seconds it took him to reach it she had vanished. He turned back to room and joined Mulder and Byers in their harsh glares toward Langly. Then he strode across from the open window and plonked himself down onto Mulder's couch, joined a moment later by Byers.

"So Mulder, what does the little lady need?" he asked, pointedly ignoring Langly.

"What do you guys know about computer viruses?" Mulder asked, ripping his eyes from Langly and trying to smother the urge to punch the other man squarely in the jaw. Frohike and Byers look confused.

"Some," Byers hedged, "what have you got in mind?"

"The greatest hack in history," Mulder explained and for the first time a flicker of interest crossed Langly's face.

* * *

><p><strong>Author Notes:<strong>

Sorry I missed a week guys, the end of last week was insane here! This week's title comes from a song by Mansun, if you've never heard of them then go check them out, they're awesome (or were until they split up years ago!)

I'm very interested to know what you all think of the Gunmen's reactions to Scully, especially Langly's! I'm so excited to share the upcoming chapters with you all but this one chapter a week schedule means you're starting to catch me up rapidly so I really need to start writing more. I'm working through some very difficult scenes at the moment but I hope you can appreciate them when you get there.


	25. Love in A Hopeless Place

Byers lay awake in bed, his brain refusing to shut down as it tried in vain to process everything he had learned in one night. He had been aware of the alien plan to colonize Earth and the government's involvement in it for some time, but never had he fully understood the details. His new level of understanding scared and confused him. What concerned him most was his newfound involvement, the fact that part of the only plan to stop this from happening relied on him and his two best friends. Well, possibly one best friend now he corrected. Langly had refused to budge all night, still referring to Agent Scully as nothing better than a killer even though he had agreed to work on the problem of creating a virus capable of disabling the alien ship. Byers knew he had no more to go on than Mulder's assurances to the contrary, but he believed in Mulder and he refused to entertain the idea that Dana Scully could ever be a murderer. It simply went against everything he knew. As he lay there remembering Scully's shocking new eyes, he heard the buzzer that signalled a visitor at the front door. Feeling a sudden twist in his stomach he rapidly got out of bed, pulling a robe around him as he headed down the shared hall that led to the front offices of The Lone Gunmen newspaper. Frohike was stepping out of his own door as Byers passed.

"It's ok, I got it," he told him.

"You sure?" Frohike mumbled sleepily.

"Yeah, I'll call you if I need anything," Byers assured him. Frohike waved his hand vaguely and vanished back into his room, shutting the door behind him. Byers noticed that Langly hadn't even bothered to come and see what was going on, he wondered if the long-haired hippy had the same suspicion about who was calling that he did. He checked the monitor screen and silently congratulated himself on being correct as he undid the dozen locks and pulled the door open.

"Hey Byers," Scully said with a nervous smile, "can I come in?"

"Of course," he answered, stepping aside to allow her to pass, "can I get you anything?" He instantly chided himself at the stupid question but Scully just silently shook her head and failed to suppress a grin.

"I think I'm good," she assured him, "besides, I already ate." Byers swallowed hard making Scully laugh out loud. "It's ok, they volunteered."

"Oh," Byers said, a question forming on his lips. He pushed it away as he led them toward the group of sofas that still smelled faintly of Frohike's chilli, that question was for another day. He heard Scully sniff the air behind him.

"My God what is that smell?" she asked.

"Frohike's cooking," Byers answered with a small smile as they both took seats.

"I am so glad I never took him up on the offer of a home cooked dinner," Scully mused. The pair of them looked at each other for a few awkward seconds.

"You needed to tell me something?" Byers asked quietly.

"Yes," Scully said quietly, her face now deadly serious. "It's about Suzanne." Byers sat up suddenly in his chair, staring at her intently.

"Suzanne?" he whispered, "she's meant to be safe, living under a new name."

"She is," Scully assured him rapidly, "I just did a little digging on her new details and I wanted you to know. She's living in Cheyenne, Wyoming, working as a high school chemistry teacher." Byers managed to laugh a little.

"You know I can picture that," he told her sadly.

"A friend of a friend lives close by," Scully explained, "she's going to keep an eye on things when we put our plan into action. If it looks like anything is happening there she's going to pull Suzanne out immediately." Byers sat quietly for a few moments.

"You didn't have to do that Scully," he told her.

"Yes I did," Scully told him, " I have people watching out for my family and beside me you're the only one with..." she paused for a moment looking sad. "We're the only two with any family left," she told him. "I know Suzanne isn't technically family, but I saw the way you looked at her in Vegas. You want her to be." Byers sat silently, fidgeting quietly with the chord of his robe.

"You know I never thought of it that way," he said eventually. "We're all alone. Mulder, Frohike, Langly," he paused at the last one and looked up at her face apologetically.

"Yeah," she agreed, ignoring his expression, "but we're all in it together so at least we can wallow with friends. Misery loves company and all that." Byers smiled vaguely but didn't reply, letting the room lapse into silence again. He heard Scully fidget and draw a breath. "I'm sorry about your father," she said. He looked up in surprise. "Mulder told me," she explained quickly, "it must have been hard, losing him again so soon after you were reunited."

"Yeah I suppose," Byers mumbled, "I mean things still weren't good between us. At least we had those few months, he even took me fishing like he did when I was a kid." He paused thoughtfully for a moment. "I still hated it!" Scully laughed quietly and Byers did too, the two of them smiling happily at one another. "It really is good to have to back Scully," Byers told her eventually, "Mulder was... well he wasn't Mulder after you... left. It was like losing two limbs, you and him both gone. You know your mother asked him to speak at the funeral and he tried, he made it up to the pulpit but he only managed to get out one line and it was too much, he just broke down. Mr Skinner went up instead and read out what Mulder had wanted to say, all about how good an agent you were and how great a doctor. There was a lot of FBI there actually, we were surprised but Mulder wasn't. He said you were always the likable one." Scully smiled then bit her lip nervously.

"Did Daniel show up?" she asked, Byers was the only other person who knew about her recent reunion with her ex-lover. The two had grown closer since their shared experience in Las Vegas.

"Yeah," Byers said with a small nod, "his daughter was there too but they left as soon as the service ended, I don't think they wanted your family to notice them." Scully pursed her lips and nodded thoughtfully.

"They never really understood," she mumbled. Byers decided not to push her on it. "Look I'd better go," she continued, "if Langly comes out here, well I'm not really in the mood for a fight."

"OK, but don't let Langly dictate where you can and cannot go," Byers told her, standing to see her out, "this is my house and you are always welcome here. I know Frohike will agree with me on that."

"Thank you," she smiled as she walked outside, "I'll see you soon." She turned and began to walk away.

"Scully..." Byers called. She turned to him, eyebrows raised, waiting for him to continue. "Nevermind," he mumbled, shaking his head. Her brow furrowed as she watched him close the door and heard the sound of the various locks being fastened. A thought that she could easily break all of them with one swift kick crossed her mind but she paid it no attention, turning and breaking into a run. City running was slower, so many obstacles and too many people watching, but if she kept to the back streets she could be at Mulder's in less than 20 minutes. As she sprinted around the corner and headed towards central DC, she didn't see a pair of headlights switch on behind her.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

Not much to say this week. The title for this one is a Rihanna song. I heard it at Zumba class about a year ago and the lyrics made me think of Mulder & Scully, even though this chapter isn't really about those two for once! There's a couple of nods to other shows in here too; a big one to the_ Lone Gunmen_ spin-off show (which I should really finish watching) and another subtler one for _Warehouse 13 - _house points to anyone who can spot it. Big shout out to my fellow Agents/Caretakers/Masochists - whatever the W13 fandom is calling itself this week. Finally it may be a little longer til the next update because I'm in London for a while this week for Comic Con where I will be meeting the Cigarette Smoking Man himself! *screams* So if I don't come back, well, you know who to blame...


	26. Teo Torriate

Mulder was still awake when he heard the sound of his living room window sliding open. Instinctively he reached for his gun but his fingers hadn't even brushed the metal before Scully's voice cut through the darkness.

"It's just me," his hand dropped back onto the bed as the door to his bedroom creaked ajar and Scully appeared around it. "I hoped you'd be asleep by now."

"I couldn't sleep not knowing where you were," he told her, "I don't think I'll ever be able to sleep without you around again." She smiled, her face illuminated slightly by the orange light that poured through the cracks in the blinds.

"Well I'm here now."

"Did you do what you needed to do?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm not going anywhere else tonight," she assured him.

"Where were you?"

"I needed to eat and then I went to see Byers."

"Byers?" Mulder asked curiously, pointedly ignoring the other half of her statement. He pulled himself up into a sitting position in his bed as Scully sat down beside him. "What did you need to see him about?"

"That's his business," she smiled, " but I'm sure he'd tell you if you asked."

"Was Langly there?" he asked darkly.

"Yes but he was asleep, I never saw him or Frohike."

"I'm sorry," he began again but she shushed him.

"It's not your fault, Langly and I will work things out. In fairness he is the only one taking this even remotely sensibly, vampires don't have the reputations they do unfairly. Anyway, you need sleep," she announced, arching an eyebrow at him.

"What will you do all night?" he asked, lying back down. She shrugged.

"I dunno, watch TV, read a book, I'll figure something out."

The knock at the door startled both of them.

"Who the hell is that?" Mulder hissed, throwing the covers off himself and swinging his legs out of bed as Scully stepped to the window and looked down.

"That car wasn't there two minutes ago," she whispered to him, pointing out the dark blue sedan now parked outside the building. Mulder grabbed his weapon from the nightstand and checked the clip before making his way to the door, stopping a few feet away.

"Who's there?" he called.

"Agent Mulder?" Skinner's voice returned from the hallway, "open this door immediately." Mulder spun to face Scully who was staring wide-eyed back at him. Without speaking she vanished into his bedroom, closing the door behind her. Mulder wondered if he'd ever be able to open his front door again without her having to hide as he stepped forward and undid the bolts, opening the door to face his boss who looked deeply unimpressed.

"Sir?" Mulder asked as Skinner stepped inside uninvited, turning to face Mulder as he closed the door.

"Where is she?" Skinner demanded.

"Where's who?" Mulder asked, knowing how unconvincing he sounded as he removed the clip from his gun.

"Scully," Skinner replied, his voice catching on the word and surprising Mulder.

"Sir, Agent Scully is dead," Mulder began but Skinner's eyes narrowed silencing him.

"Cut the crap Mulder, I just followed her here from the offices of your conspiracy theorist friends." Mulder stared at him for a moment, turning to look guiltily at his bedroom door as it opened and Scully stepped out, a smirk on her lips.

"I really need to teach you how to lie," she complained at him as Mulder heard Skinner's shocked gasp behind him, he figured his boss had just gotten his first proper look at Scully's eyes. She flicked her eyes to meet Skinner's and offered him a smile.

"Sir?" she asked. Skinner seemed frozen, unsure how to react.

"Agent," he began, "I..." he looked at Mulder for guidance, "is it true?" Mulder nodded and Skinner looked back at Scully.

"You're a vampire?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah," she replied, "I know that must be a bit of a shock." Skinner snorted.

"You could say that," he agreed. Deep lines suddenly appeared on his face. "Are you responsible for the deaths of Dr. Scanlon, Alex Krycek and the members of the Mutual Investors in Future Technologies group?" She broke eye contact with him, looking briefly to Mulder for support before looking back.

"Yes Sir," she stated quietly, waiting for his next move. Skinner stared at her for a moment.

"Good riddance," he announced with a nod, beginning to remove his coat. He stepped past Scully who was still standing in Mulder's bedroom doorway, her eyebrows raised in utter confusion, and sat himself on the end of Mulder's couch. "Now, tell me what you two are up to."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

Hi, sorry it's been a few weeks; Comic Con and a family vacation means I've not been online as much as usual. Meeting the Cigarette Smoking Man whilst cosplaying Scully was awesome! I hope you all like this chapter, the title is Japanese for "Let us cling together" and comes from a song by Queen.


	27. The Melancholy Moonlight

**Seven and a half weeks later**

**72 Hours to El Rico**

Mulder found himself lying awake at 3:32 a.m., staring up at the ceiling. His head was aching badly so he knew there was little point in attempting to get back to sleep. One thing he could judge quickly after years of being an insomniac was when it was simply not worth trying anymore. He had already assigned blame for the ache to his day which had been busier than any in recent months. He, Skinner and the Gunmen - excluding Langly - had traveled north with bags packed to join Scully and her increasing band of vampires at the house in Massachusetts, ready to prepare for the upcoming fight at El Rico. It was a good thing that none of the vampires who called the house their home actually needed their beds because each one was now occupied by a human guest. The number of vampires staying there had topped sixty, most of them hiding out together in the woods and Scully knew of dozens more making their way across the country and from the rest of the world ready to join the fight. Mulder had barely seen her since his arrival that morning. She was constantly busy making sure everyone was up-to-speed on the latest information and reading through whatever reports her contacts were able to leak their way.

Since their reunion almost eight weeks ago, life had become a non-stop whirlwind of meetings with informants, hushed phone calls and worried glances. Their little time together had become less and less frequent as they both shouldered the mantle of responsibility for the forthcoming attack. They had however managed to cling onto one little ritual whereby Scully would always join Mulder as he went to bed, often climbing between the sheets with him and snuggling close as he drifted off to sleep. He found that he always slept easier when she did. A few times she had closed her eyes experimentally to see if sleep could be possible for her yet, but any little wisps of tiredness danced away from her before she could even begin to catch hold of them. Instead she would lie there quietly, enjoying Mulder's warmth and the feel of his arms wrapped around her. It relaxed her more than anything else and so some nights she had chosen to stay in bed until he awoke again, allowing her thoughts to wander and her tension to unwind. Tonight however she had needed to hunt and so had slipped out of bed after a short while and disappeared out into the forest with a small group of friends.

Back in DC Skinner had taken on the task of managing any leaked information they could obtain through government contacts, arranging meetings with their informants in the CIA, NSA, ATF, and Secret Service and shuttling the data into the hands of a few trusted messengers who would run it up to Scully. Byers and Frohike had practically locked themselves in their office in order to work on a virus that could sabotage the alien ship and a means to deliver it, using only a few fragments from the recovered Roswell wreckage stolen from Area 51 to help them navigate their way through the almost incomprehensible alien operating system. Langly had agreed to work with them but had still refused to speak with Scully or even be in the same room with her. Byers had spent much of the past weeks acting as mediator between him and Frohike who had announced early in the proceedings that if Langly refused to budge on his position, that when their task was completed he would never work with him again. Scully had been devastated to learn that she could be responsible for breaking up the group but the others had insisted to her that the issue was Langly's alone. After all despite the number of humans now working in close proximity with an ever increasing pool of vampires, no injuries had occurred. Langly for his part maintained that it was only a matter of time.

Mulder shook his head to bring himself back to the present, he shimmied out of the oversized bed that took up less than a quarter of Scully's enormous room and wandered out into the upstairs hallway. From below he could hear sounds of activity; a TV was on somewhere and in the back room someone was playing the piano. Even after multiple visits to the house it still occasionally made Mulder uncomfortable to know he was one of only a few individuals who needed to sleep. The constant alertness of the vampires made him wary, the way they were as bright eyed and sharp-focused at 4 a.m. as they were at midday could be unnerving. There was no sneaking around behind their backs. Their keen senses and slight psychic abilities made him feel like he was under constant surveillance, even though he knew that the others in the house were preoccupied with their own activities. They apparently cared little for the humans who occasionally joined their ranks and filled the house with their apparently strong odors. He made his way downstairs and peered into the main living room where he found Harrison reading a novel. Harrison peered over the top of the book and pretended to have just noticed his arrival, although Mulder was fairly sure the young vampire would have been aware that he was heading down from the moment he stirred from his bed.

"Couldn't sleep?" he asked, Mulder shook his head blearily making the pain in his temples spark sharply.

"She's not here," Harrison told him with a smile, replacing the bookmark that had been lying beside him into the book and closing it. "Thea picked up on a pride of mountain lions moving south through the forests near Norwich, you don't just let an opportunity like that go by."

"No," Mulder agreed as he flopped down into a nearby chair, "mountain lions, wouldn't want to miss that." Harrison grinned at him.

"Maybe one day you'll be out there hunting with her?" he suggested. Mulder looked at him. Somehow the question of their future had never arisen, their time together being taken up by other more pressing issues. Now he came to think of it, their current arrangement could never last. At this point he was still aging while she would stay frozen, if he didn't change too then one day he would lose her and she would be left alone forever. What's more, he knew that it wouldn't be long before that happened. The thought hit him like a punch to the stomach, an almost physical pain spreading up across his chest. Harrison however seemed oblivious to the sudden change taking place just a few feet away.

"Well whatever," he shrugged, "none of my business. Still," he eyed Mulder up and down appreciatively, "you'd make one damn good looking vampire." Mulder was still staring at him when the doors opened and the sound of talking filled the air. Scully walked into the room flanked by Thea, Edwin and Gideon, they all seemed upbeat and Thea was laughing at some unheard remark.

"Mulder?" Scully asked, looking immediately concerned, "what's wrong?"

"He couldn't sleep," Harrison supplied from the couch, "so, good hunting?" His eyes strayed to her top which displayed two large gashes across the right shoulder. "I'm guessing dinner bit back?"

"Six of them, four of us," Scully informed him with a smirk, although her eyes never strayed from Mulder as she moved to stand beside his chair, "one of them got the jump on me while I was focused on her sister. She didn't manage it again. This top was a favourite though," she muttered darkly.

"That'll teach you to go after mountain lions wearing your Sunday best," Gideon replied, moving to join Harrison on the couch. "Never know what might happen."

"Edwin, could I speak with you?" Mulder asked suddenly. Everyone turned to look at Edwin who seemed a little startled. Secretly Mulder felt pleased, with their mild psychic perceptions it was nearly impossible to surprise a vampire.

"Yes, of course," he agreed immediately, leading the way out of the room as Mulder rose from the chair and followed him, feeling Scully's curious gaze almost burning a hole in his back. They made their way to the screened rear porch that overlooked the beach where Edwin flicked the switch on a recently purchased electric heater before turning to Mulder and raising his eyebrows curiously.

"I need to know," Mulder began slowly, "has Scully ever talked about... about making me like her?"

"You mean transforming you?" Edwin asked. Mulder nodded and Edwin looked thoughtful for a brief moment. "Not in as many words she hasn't no. However she has asked a lot of questions about the process, the dangers involved and such. They were the same questions I asked a friend before I made my first transformation, the things that weighed on my mind at that time. I assumed from her questions that she was thinking of attempting the process at some point but I warned her that for a newborn to try it would be very dangerous, especially on someone she loved. The emotional power of the process could easily overwhelm her, she could forget to stop drinking and end up killing you." Mulder blanched slightly.

"I would only ever want her to do it," he told Edwin with a sigh, "how long does it usually take before a vampire could manage to change someone they loved without that risk?" Edwin eyed him thoughtfully.

"It really does depend on the individual," he sensed Mulder about to press the point so he continued, "with Dana I imagine it will be sooner rather than later, she's very controlled already and that's growing by the minute. But it could still be months, even a year or two before she would risk it." Mulder felt his heart sink. "You're worried," Edwin stated kindly, "I think I know why." Mulder looked up at him, feeling the pain in his head sharpen again.

"Go on."

"I was watching you two before I approached Dana. I noticed your trips to Dr. Graham, the ones you kept off your medical records so she wouldn't see. When Dana got sick I looked into it, I needed all my facts straight. A rare brain disease if I remember correctly, terminal." Mulder went pale.

"You've known this whole time?" Edwin nodded slightly, "why didn't you say anything?"

"I'm not your doctor and you didn't volunteer the information, it didn't feel like my place," Edwin replied, "but you can rest easy, I haven't told anyone anything, especially not Dana. It's not easy hiding something like that from someone who can read your thoughts but she doesn't know, I can promise you that."

"Thank you," Mulder replied, "I've sensed the connection between you two, I assume it has to do with your being the one who turned her?"

"Yes, we all have an exceptionally strong bond with our creator, especially in the initial decades. The mild psychic powers we all possess are transferred genetically through the transformation process and so our closest bonds are to our creators and those we create. I feel and hear Dana, Thea, and Gideon more clearly than anyone else because I transformed them. They hear each other less clearly than they hear me but more clearly than they hear others because they share a creator. They are in some respects siblings. The only closer bonds are between lovers where one transformed the other as with Harrison and Gideon, presumably because they share both the creator bond and a strong emotional bond too."

"I don't think I could be happy knowing anyone had a stronger bond with her than me, " Mulder thought aloud, "I'm jealous of you in that respect."

"I know," Edwin smiled, "I feel it strongly whenever Dana and I communicate that way and you see us. I understand." He paused for a moment. "I'm sure Dana will talk about this with you soon, it's just right now she's facing other more pressing problems and she knows it would be too dangerous to attempt anyway. I imagine she's trying not to think about it. I've caught fragments of her thoughts about you and trust me, you being like her would alleviate a lot of her worries and solve a lot of her problems." He winked knowingly causing Mulder's eyebrows to shoot skywards.

"You can read those thoughts?" he asked, half-incredulous, half-worried.

"Not really, I got a glimpse of something the first night you stayed here because it was so new and so strong, but as soon as I figured out where her thoughts were I closed that door. There are some things I really don't want or need to think about." Mulder laughed.

"You know I never asked," he wondered aloud, "was it through Scully that the vampire community first learned about colonization?"

"Well sort of," Edwin explained, "I'm one of a group of so-called leaders who watch out for the vampire community as a whole. Part of that is keeping tabs on any humans who look like they might uncover too much about us and make it public, so you and Dana had been on our collective radar for some time. Of all of us I lived closest to you both so I was watching your work and I started seeing the information you were uncovering about colonization. I began paying more attention and using my other sources to find out what I could, so I suppose it was me who first learned about it. Of course I didn't believe it at first, it seemed too incredible and I suppose that says a lot coming from a vampire, but the more I uncovered the more I began to believe. When Dana became sick I called a meeting with some of the other community leaders and told them what I had discovered. We all agreed that we needed to work together with the humans who were fighting and so they gave me their blessing to reveal myself to Dana and offer our help. From all we had learned, we knew her survival was critical to defeating the colonists and I helped her see that."

"How did you learn that vampires are immune to the black oil?" Mulder asked. Edwin sighed heavily and sat down in a nearby chair.

"Do you remember Lawrence and Charlotte?" he asked, "they were here the first night you stayed."

"Vaguely," Mulder replied.

"Well when I was digging up what little information I could find, I came across their names in reference to tests, so with great difficulty I tracked them down and spoke to them. They told me that in the 1970s the government gathered a small group of willing vampires together in West Virginia and took them down inside an old mine."

"The Strughold Mining Company," Mulder mused, remembering his trip there with Scully when the facility was long abandoned. They had seen a photograph of the building taken in 1973 with members of The Syndicate stood in front of it, members that included his father and the Smoking Man. "Scully and I visited the same mine in 1995, we found several doors locked by keypads. We managed to access one of them which led to a network of tunnels filled with files, but we never saw what was behind the other doors."

"Well one must have led deep down inside the mine tunnels, that was where Lawrence, Charlotte and the other three vampires were taken. They were each asked to go inside a room and try and sense something about it, but the doors were slammed shut and locked."

"They couldn't escape?" Mulder asked incredulously.

"These were two foot thick solid steels doors Agent Mulder, built into solid rock; even we have our limits. They were left down there, alone and in darkness for over a year until all their strength had drained from them and they were little stronger than humans. Then they were dragged into a sealed laboratory and the black oil released. The oil tried to infect them multiple times but each time it entered their bodies it would recoil as if burned. Charlotte told me it was a terrifying experience. They had no idea what the oil was and no one would speak to them. We might come across as super-human but our emotions are also far more intense than yours and that includes fear." Mulder fumed as he imagined Spender and his father standing watching as the terrified girl was attacked repeatedly by the black oil.

"What happened?" he asked, his jaw set hard.

"They were thrown back into the cells and the test repeated several times, including trials later on with the substance you've referred to as green blood. Lawrence told me about the first time that happened; he was locked inside the lab with what he thought was a human corpse. Normally we would never touch a dead body but he was so utterly starved that he was about to pounce on it when it began to dissolve into a green puddle. He thought he was losing his mind. The tests went on for months until one time a guard was careless and got too close to Lawrence. He grabbed and killed him and that gave him the strength to run and free the others. He had to almost drag them for the first few hundred meters but they came across a group of guards and the others were able to feed and regain some strength. They escaped, killing over a dozen guards on their way out and then they ran. It took them over a decade to come near civilization again. It's that group which has been the most proactive in recruiting other vampires to your cause."

"I can imagine," Mulder said, "I'm sorry, it never occurred to me that it wouldn't just be humans that would have experienced their tests."

"I think they're just happy to finally be fighting back," Edwin replied, Mulder fighting a yawn as he nodded in understanding.

"I think I might try and sleep again now Scully's home," Mulder announced, stretching out his shoulder muscles. "Thank you for talking."

"Any time," Edwin replied leading the way back to into the house and kicking off the heater as he passed. Mulder heard the sound of Debussy's Clair de Lune flowing from the music room and followed the sound to Scully who was sat lazily playing the piano. She stopped as soon as he entered.

"Don't," he told her and she resumed quietly as he sat beside her and watched her fingers.

"Everything ok?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, just needed to get something off my chest." She nodded, knowing he would elaborate if he wanted to, "we can talk about it some other time."

"Plenty of time," she mused as she drew the piece to a close and closed the wooden lid over the keys. "Forever." Mulder looked across at her, unsure if he'd heard her final word.

"I'm going back to bed," he told her quietly, "wanna come?"

"Sure," she agreed with a smile and the pair headed upstairs in companionable silence.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

Not much to say except that the title of this chapter comes from a line in the rhyming English translation of the song Clair de lune by Paul Verlaine and Gabriel Faure. Obviously it was chosen because Scully ends the chapter by playing the famous piece by Debussy which was inspired by the song, and that in itself is a reference to Twilight. These titles just keep unfolding like a flower...


	28. Code Monkeys Save World?

**36 Hours to El Rico**

"You're sure this is going to work?" Mordecai asked.

"As sure as we can be," Byers responded, "without a complete system to try it on we can never be certain. What I can tell you is that when we introduce this device to the Roswell console, the whole thing shuts down. We've built a connector that jacks itself into the open ports but should be able to adapt if the design has changed since this ship crashed. If their technology moves at half the rate that ours does then the computer on a ship from 1947 is likely to be utterly obsolete, but changes to the hardware are generally slower and the ports hopefully won't have changed beyond what this device can adapt to." He held up the bundle of wires that were attached to a small box filled with exposed circuitry and passed it to Mordecai who inspected it curiously before passing it on to Scully.

"Honestly you could have passed me anything, I don't know the first thing about computers," he told Byers sheepishly, "but Dana here says you're the best in the business and if you say this will disable the ship then I believe you."

"If you did the best you could then that's all I ask," Scully told Byers, carefully passing back the device to him, "I know you didn't have much to work with."

"We've constructed three of them," Byers told her as he placed the device back inside the styrofoam box he had carved out to house it, "that way we can hit multiple consoles at once. Those three boxes communicate with this other one using an ultra-secure military grade network," he held up another more polished-looking box. "We need someone to get onboard the ship and jam all three into the ship's computer systems while we make our way to the control room. From there we should be able to connect this one to the El Rico computers and trigger them."

"Forgive me," Mulder interrupted, "but wouldn't it be easier to just plant an explosive inside the ship and be done with it?"

"That was my first thought too," Mordecai agreed, "however the documents we have recovered talk about a neutralising field present on the ships that suppresses fire, concussive shock waves, and anything else potentially damaging to the ship's systems. It's been the focus of some of the most intensive research at Groom Lake so there was some significant detail available on it. A working system would suppress any explosion we could possibly create so we need a more stealthy approach than to go in all guns blazing as it were." Mulder nodded.

"So we need you two in the control room," Mordecai thought aloud looking at Byers and Frohike, "that's on the far wall from the entrances we plan to use according to the blueprints we were able to obtain." He pulled out a tube and spread the El Rico blueprints out on the table in the centre of the room, pointing to the largest hangar and the small control room that sat centrally on the long rear wall. "If it conforms to standard it will overlook the hangar with a glass wall so we'll be able to signal once the devices are placed and you can begin work."

"What about us?" Skinner asked, indicating himself and Mulder.

"I want you out of the way," Scully replied quickly. "That hangar floor will turn into a battlezone within seconds and there's no way any of you will be able to fight with us. We think they'll send out the juveniles initially, we saw the damage they can do that time in Phoenix, you wouldn't stand a chance."

"How about sending them to the control room as well?" Mordecai suggested. "According to this, the only access is up a narrow flight of stairs that leads directly from the hangar floor. The colonists will be focused on fighting us and might not notice a small group up there so they should be safe; and if appropriately armed, Mr. Skinner and Mulder should be able to pick off any individuals who do attempt to follow them. We need to keep Byers and Frohike safe until they can disable the ship, two extra guards covering the top of the stairs would be useful." Scully looked concerned.

"I don't like it," she told them all, "it's too close to the fighting."

"The operative word being close," Mulder snapped back at her, "you're going to be right in the middle of this battlezone, how do you think I feel about that?" Scully looked taken aback at his suddenly angry tone.

"It's different," she murmured, feeling the eyes of their friends watching her, "I can't be killed."

"And that's all that matters?" he asked her, the anger building quietly in his voice, "Edwin told me how you vampires feel fear more acutely than we do. I know you can still be injured, you can feel pain. I'm supposed to be happy with you running into a battle where you could end up in agony, where you will probably be terrified, and I'm supposed to just sit in a room clutching a gun and pretending it's not happening? Would you be happy doing that if it was the other way around?"

"No..." Scully replied hesitantly, "but what else can we do? You can't be in there with me, you'd be dead in seconds."

"Sit it out," Mulder told her. "Stay with us in the control room."

"And let my friends fight this battle for me?" Scully asked him incredulously, "I'm the one who started this thing Mulder, I have to be the one who finishes it. I can't just stand there watching as my friends do my work for them. They're doing this because of me, the least I can do is suffer with them." She and Mulder stared at each other, they had reached an impasse and both of them knew it. Skinner cleared his throat.

"There's no right way to do this," he told them carefully, "for what it's worth Mulder I agree with Mordecai, the control room is the best place for us to be." He paused momentarily, "I also agree with Scully, you can't expect her to sit on the sidelines and watch her friends fight for her. That's not how good soldiers operate, we fight together."

"Scully's not a soldier," Mulder hissed at him.

"She is as far as I'm concerned," Skinner replied calmly, shooting a tight smile at her, "she's assembled this army and is leading it into battle, to save the human race no less. What could make her more of a soldier than that? She needs to be down there, as much as it will hurt you to let her. She will walk away from this Mulder, remember that, and she'll need you to be there for her when she does." Mulder glanced between the two of them, spotting the pleading look in Scully's eyes as she begged him to understand why she was putting herself in harm's way.

"OK fine," he agreed, the hard edge never leaving his voice, "I'll stay in the control room while you fight." Scully sighed in relief.

"Just don't do anything stupid," she told him.

"Hey, it's me," he replied with a hint of sarcasm, making Scully's eyebrow raise and a nervous smile cross her lips.

"And that's exactly what I'm afraid of," she told him.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

Sorry for the long delay guys, summer break here and it's been kind of hard to find time for anything other than work with a three year old running around my feet all day! Title for this one is based on the song Code Monkey by Jonathan Coulton - specifically it's a rip on the title of the comic book inspired by the song. Because that's not confusing at all...


	29. One Crowded Hour

**24 Hours to El Rico**

Everyone's heads looked up to the clock as the hand moved to show 11pm. Twenty-four hours remained until the meeting at El Rico Air Base and the house was now filled with activity. Almost two hundred vampires had arrived over the past week, far exceeding Scully and Mordecai's expectations regarding how many friends they could gather. A good number of them were now camping in the woods to avoid drawing unnecessary attention to the group. Everywhere Mulder went he found himself watched by red eyes and as a result he spent more and more time outside on the freezing cold beach wrapped up in dozens of layers. He spent every moment he could spare reading over the leaked documents they had managed to find, absorbing every last piece of information he could on the off-chance that something might be useful. Byers often joined him reading through the research that had been conducted on the Roswell ship, familiarising himself with schematics of the computer wreckage, trying to decipher fragments of code coaxed from the alien hardware, and memorising every last detail of the computer systems of El Rico. Frohike usually stayed inside tinkering with the devices that they hoped would disable the ships. Of everyone there Frohike had been the least bothered by the increasing presence of vampires. He mingled with them easily and Mulder had even found him teaching Leyla how to tango late one evening in the large wooden floored studio that ran the full length of the northern side of the house.

Tonight however everyone had gathered inside; squeezing themselves into the house to commemorate the moment and answer any final questions. Everyone seemed happy. Each person knew their role; and so for the last five minutes they had sat in silence and watched as the clock hand crept upwards until it finally hit the top of the circle and silently announced the final day of preparation.

"Well that's it," Mordecai said, his deep voice rumbling across the room, "twenty-four hours to go. I'd suggest that those of you who can go and get some sleep but I'm guessing that won't be easy."

"Not a chance," Mulder concurred, stretching out his stiff shoulder muscles that ached with a cold he now thought might never shift. All around him the other humans murmured in agreement.

"Well some of us are heading out to Jack's," Harrison began, "if anyone wants to tag along."

"You mean One-Eyed Jack's?" Byers questioned instantly. A few people stared at him.

"Yeah," Harrison replied, "you've heard of it?"

"Only by reputation," Byers answered, "I kept wanting to ask Scully about it but the time never seemed right."

"Am I the only one out of this loop?" Skinned asked, Mulder shook his head.

"No, what are you all talking about?"

"One-Eyed Jack's is a club, kind of a private bar in the woods outside Providence," Byers explained. "It has a reputation online that there's more to it than meets they eye. That it's a club for vampires to pick up humans." Mulder instantly looked around curiously.

"Is it?"

"Sort of," Harrison agreed, "before a human can get in they have to prove they have knowledge of our world, normally that means being invited along by a vampire."

"The humans who are allowed in, do they..." Mulder paused as he tried to get his words in order, "do they leave again?"

"Of course!" Scully laughed, "trails of bodies aren't so good for maintaining secrecy in case you didn't know."

"But they do get bitten?" Mulder pressed.

"Only if they ask for it, although most humans going to those places go there just for that purpose."

"Why would anyone want to be bitten by a vampire?" Frohike asked.

"It's meant to be a high," Byers muttered quietly, "I did some research on it," he added as the others looked curiously at him, except for Scully who nodded.

"Yes, we can release a substance in our venom that is designed to subdue a victim we don't intend to kill but it has the effect of a narcotic like high, similar to a heavy dose of morphine only there's no addictive quality to it. It makes a good trade. The bars charge humans to come in so they can make money, we get a good feed without leaving any potentially dangerous evidence behind, and the humans get high without fear of addiction. Everyone wins." The room fell silent again and Scully stretched out on her chair, noticing from the corner of her eye the way Byers was watching her, a strange nervous tension lingering in his eyes.

"So who's coming?" Harrison asked after a few moments, "we all need to be well fed so we're at our peak strength tomorrow night." At least a dozen vampires stood up including Scully. She was heading to Mulder to say goodnight when Byers spoke loudly.

"Can I come?" Scully looked around at him, her brow furrowed deeply.

"To Jack's?" she asked. Byers nodded. She looked around but the other vampires in the group all shrugged their indifference or nodded. "Erm sure, we can take my car."

"I'm coming too then," Mulder announced from behind her, "I think we need to let off some steam before tomorrow."

"Me too," Frohike agreed. Scully rolled her eyes and spun to look at Skinner.

"Are you coming as well Sir?"

"I may as well," he grinned, "I've never been one to turn down a new experience."

"Guess I'll be taking the Jeep then," Scully sighed before turning to Harrison and the others who were waiting by the doors. "I'll catch up with you guys later."

"How are they all getting there?" Mulder asked.

"They're running," Scully told him as she dug out a car key from the box in a nearby cupboard.

"All the way to Providence?" he continued, sounding surprised. Scully turned back and cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Have you been paying any attention to what we can do?" she asked irritably, "now follow me to the garage, if I'm going to have to drive down there then I wanna get on the road."

Two hours later Mulder found himself on an old leather couch in a corner of One-Eyed Jack's, squashed between Skinner and Scully. Frohike and Byers shared a second couch beside theirs. The only light that illuminated the group shone from a tea light on the battered wooden table in front of them, reflecting off Mulder's half-drunk beer bottle. He looked around at his friends and saw that Byers had the same look of abject fascination that had been stuck on his face since the moment they walked through the door. Skinner and Frohike seemed simply curious at the scene before them but Mulder had sensed Scully becoming increasingly tense as the minutes wore on. The other vampires in their group had arrived long before them and were now spread between the lower dance floor across from them or entertaining human guests at equally dark tables scattered around the room. Mulder sensed that he knew why Scully was tensing up but found himself unsure of how to broach the subject.

"You know there was something I've been meaning to ask," Frohike announced to Scully, who snapped out of her reverie and nodded at him to continue, "if vampires have been living among us all this time, how come nobody famous has ever been turned? I mean surely some vampire has taken a shine to a celebrity at some point?"

"Well changing celebrities doesn't exactly fit with our 'keep a low profile' mentality," Scully explained as Byers finally dragged his attention away from the room and back to their table, "people tend to notice when they disappear and it makes it very hard for us, both in keeping the circumstances of their disappearance secret and also for them. They would have to stay out of sight until their celebrity had waned completely, someone would notice if Marilyn Monroe suddenly appeared on the streets looking as young as she did on the day she died wouldn't they? Of course that hasn't stopped it entirely, it has happened a few times."

"Really?" Mulder's voice rose an octave, "there are celebrity vampires? Please tell me you can introduce me to Elvis!" Scully laughed.

"Not Elvis I'm afraid, but there are some. I mean Amelia Earhart for starters."

"Amelia Earhart is a vampire?" Mulder asked slowly, wanting to make sure he was hearing correctly.

"Well it's Amy now and she works for United flying 747s but yes, she is." The group was silent for a long moment as the others digested this.

"Have you met her?" Byers asked.

"Once, very briefly," Scully told him, "we met at a bar in New York several months ago. Edwin introduced us."

"A bar?" Mulder asked curiously, "you mean like this place?"

"Exactly. Most operate under the guise of private member's clubs. Gives us somewhere to socialize outside of human scrutiny, we can't really spend much time in human social haunts, people notice us not eating or drinking." Byers nodded.

"They're popular rumours on the underground circuits I monitor. I'd never actually found proof, although 1313 in Adams Morgan has long been regarded as a front for something strange."

"Yeah 1313 is one," Scully confirmed, "there's generally a few in every major city. They're great places for us to meet each other and you know, grab a bite to eat." She grinned momentarily at her own pun. At that moment Thea appeared at the table, an attractive yet clearly human young man on her arm.

"Hey Dana," she grinned, "Eddie here has a cute friend on the dance floor who's looking for a little high. You wanna help him out?" She pulled Eddie down onto a nearby armchair and proceeded to bite his neck softly. Mulder saw the man's mouth fall open and his eyes roll up as the paralysing venom hit his system, he looked practically orgasmic. Mulder looked over at Byers who was staring open-mouthed at the scene and swallowing hard.

"I think I'm gonna get another drink," Frohike muttered.

"I'll help you with that," Skinner announced quickly, following the shorter man away from the table. Mulder felt Scully trying to control her breathing beside him and noticed that her fists were balled up on her lap. Byers was lost in his own private world watching Thea so Mulder stroked Scully's forearm gently, making her jump as her eyes met his.

"You're hungry," he told her, "you can feed here. Why deny yourself?"

"Because of how it would look to you," she answered, looking back at Thea and Eddie. Mulder followed her gaze and saw the way Thea was stuck to the man's neck, it looked as though she was kissing him passionately. He felt his stomach twist uncomfortably as an image of Scully in that position flooded his mind, her lips on some stranger's neck.

"What about if it was me?" he asked. He noticed Byers briefly look their way but Scully appeared oblivious.

"You?" she asked dumbly.

"Yeah," he agreed, "I'd let you bite me any time, surely you know that?"

"I couldn't dare," she whispered, staring at him nervously, "the rush I'd feel drinking your blood, I don't think I could stop." As she spoke, Mulder remembered his conversation with Edwin two nights previously.

"Drinking blood is more powerful if you have an emotional connection to the...?" he stopped before he accidentally said victim.

"Yes," she agreed, "whether it's a positive or a negative connection, it's always powerful. I experienced it with Scanlon, Krycek and Spender, this incredible rush because of the power of the hatred I felt toward them, but with them I intended to kill. I could never risk you that way."

"How about me?" the voice was so small Mulder wasn't sure if he had heard it. He looked up to see Byers watching them, his eyes flicked across to Scully. "Could you feed off me?" Scully looked a little nervous.

"You'd want me to?" she asked.

"Yes," he swallowed and nodded. "Ever since I first heard about these places it's something I wanted to experience. I don't know why. I mean I'm hardly the live dangerously type, I've never even smoked a cigarette. There's just some connection here that I can't understand, something that draws me to it. It's something I have to try." He looked up at Scully plaintively. "If I'm gonna do it it'd be nice to have it be a friend, that is if the emotional connection isn't too strong?" Scully shook her head fractionally then turned to look at Mulder who nodded at her.

"You need to eat Scully," he told her gently, stroking his fingers up and down her arm, "I don't mind, in fact I'm curious. Go on." He gently pushed her off the sofa and she stepped across to where Byers sat and sank down beside him before leaning in close.

"You're absolutely positive about this?" she asked.

"Yes," he choked out. Scully brushed her fingers across the side of his neck, feeling for the exact location of the vein before she brushed her teeth up against the flesh and bit through. Mulder saw Byers gasp out and his back straighten before his body seemed to crumple into the couch and his eyes closed, the lids flickering wildly.

"Oh!" Mulder heard Frohike's gasp as he and Skinner returned from the bar but he couldn't move his eyes from Scully and Byers. He watched in fascination as Scully drank, Byers staying utterly motionless.

"Attagirl!" Thea laughed as she passed by their corner, heading back toward the dance floor. Mulder didn't know how much time elapsed before he saw Scully pull away, the two pinprick wounds on Byers' neck healing over almost instantly. She turned suddenly toward him, her top lip curling up fractionally to reveal the razor sharp teeth he had only glimpsed before. She breathed heavily and for the first time, Mulder saw what he knew Langly visualised every time he looked at her. Her eyes practically glowed red from the fresh infusion of blood into her system, her nostrils flared in time with her shoulders which rocked her body as as she coiled inwards looking ready to pounce. Mulder felt a hand on his forearm and realised Edwin was standing beside him.

"Dana?" he asked gently. Scully's eyes blinked rapidly as she looked around, suddenly appearing deeply confused and not truly seeing anyone around her. Her breathing slowed and became shallower but her eyes were still wild.

"Hey Dana!" Thea called from across the room, clearly having noticed the situation, "dance with us!" She beckoned Scully over toward the dance floor. Scully took one look at Mulder and shot past him toward Thea and out of sight into a crowd of moving bodies.

"I should probably have warned you about that," Edwin chuckled. Mulder was amazed at how calm he appeared after what in his mind had been one second away from becoming a bloodbath. "After we feed we get an incredible rush of energy and emotions. We lose all focus and become purely instinctive for a while, having you so close to her at that exact moment probably wasn't the best move." Mulder looked toward the dance floor, Duran Duran was pumping out of the speakers and Mulder recognised the song.

"Hungry Like the Wolf?" he asked, "really?"

"If there's one thing we vampires all seem to share it's a pretty twisted sense of humour," Edwin laughed. Mulder caught sight of Scully dancing with Thea in the centre of the floor, as with all her movements now she was exceptionally graceful. When the tune ended the DJ melded it seamlessly with the next record as Scully, still wild eyed but now grinning widely ran over to him.

"Dance?" she asked, holding out her hand. Mulder's eyebrows shot up for a second but he nodded and stood to follow her. As he followed her, he recognised that the song now playing was the Pet Shop Boys cover version of one of his favourite Elvis songs, a song that had plagued him throughout his first year in Violent Crimes back in 1988. They reached the dancefloor and Scully turned to him, flinging her arms around his neck.

"Scully?" he asked as she smiled and looked up at him.

"We're always more emotional and instinctive after a feed," she breathed, swaying to the music and dragging Mulder's body along with hers, "more inclined to act on our desires." She pressed herself up against him close and Mulder smiled down at her. She began to mouth the words and Mulder joined her, the pair of them swaying together in the darkness, repeating the words to one another. "You were always on my mind," she whispered in his ear. Mulder looked back at her and she suddenly kissed him deeply. After a moment she pulled away looking shocked at her own courage, but Mulder grinned at her and she began to laugh in his arms, leaning in for another kiss that Mulder willingly reciprocated."

"Is this safe?" he asked quietly.

"Who cares?" she replied and two of the laughed, intermingling kissing with more mouthed lyrics, "I guess I never told you, I'm so happy that you're mine," Mulder whispered in her ear as the song drew to a close. They pulled apart and Mulder tried to cover up a yawn. Scully looked over to a clock by the bar.

"Oh my God Mulder, it's past 2am."

"No wonder I'm tired," he joked.

"Come on, I'll drive you all home," she said as they walked back to the others who were sat around the sofa grinning at them like Cheshire cats.

"What?" Mulder asked innocently as they approached.

"Oh nothing," Frohike replied nonchalantly, "we just wondered what took you two so long."

"Come on," Edwin said, trying to suppress his amusement, "let's get you guys home. I'll carry Byers to the car." He scooped up Byers' half-conscious form and headed for the doors, followed by the group with Mulder and Scully at the rear, their arms around one another as they walked.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Author Notes:<em>**

_Happy 20th Anniversary X-Files!_

_Title comes from Augie March's One Crowded Hour which felt like a good fit for this one; go listen and you won't be disappointed. This chapter got a bit cheesy by the end but I figured Mulder and Scully needed to let off a bit of steam before what I'm about to subject them to!_


	30. Everybody was Kung-Fu Fighting

**13 Hours to El Rico**

It was too early when Mulder finally awoke. He groaned and rolled onto his back, squinting against the harsh sunlight that shone through the window. He could hear the usual sounds of activity downstairs so he gradually stretched and persuaded himself to get out of bed and dressed. He'd never struggled much with getting out of bed in the past but this bed always smelled of Scully which made it that much harder to leave. He made his way downstairs and had to fight his way past several people just to get into the kitchen which was also swarming with new faces. Skinner and Frohike were leaning against a counter eating toast and looking half-asleep. Perhaps going out and only getting a few hours sleep hadn't been such a good idea after all. Then he remembered Scully dancing with him and her exuberant smiles and laughter as she allowed her new nature to creep into the open. Even the discomforting sight of her biting Byers couldn't dampen the high he felt as he recalled her lips on his. No, going out last night had definitely been the right thing to do.

"Why the hell are there so many vampires in the kitchen?" he huffed quietly as he slipped two slices of bread into the toaster, "they don't even need to eat!"

"I think they've just run out of room in the rest of the house," Skinner offered, "Scully doesn't want them out on the beach because if any joggers come up this way it would draw a lot of attention. She's assigning all the new arrivals to their locations and booting them out into the woods to wait. Some have already started moving down toward El Rico. She said we need to leave in an hour."

"Huh", Mulder grunted, unwilling to admit that it made sense, "they're still in my way though." Frohike grinned at him. "Where's Byers?"

"On the beach as usual. I think he's avoiding us all after last night."

"Surely there's nothing more he can do with those plans?" Mulder asked, ignoring the implied conversation starter.

"No but you know Byers," Frohike replied, "he can't just sit around and wait, he needs something to occupy his mind until we set off."

"I know that feeling," Mulder agreed as his toast jumped up. He caught it, buttered it and dropped it onto a waiting plate. "I'll catch you guys later," he said as he pushed his way back into the melee in an attempt to locate Scully. It only took a moment or two; she had pulled a desk into the far corner of the long studio and was sitting behind it, partially obscured by the piles of paper that covered every square inch. Mordecai was beside her, his dark skin shimmering slightly in the sunlight that poured in through the glass wall. Before they met, Mulder had wondered what would happen to a dark skinned human who became a vampire - would their skin also turn ghostly pale as with Scully's? He had learned that the transformation process rather than bleaching the skin, simply enhanced its human colour. Pale skinned humans like Scully and Thea became paler but those with other skin tones also became enhanced. Mordecai had very dark brown skin as a human and now his colouring was almost black with a subtle golden sheen to it. Mulder couldn't put his finger on what had happened to Leyla, who had originally possessed an almost hispanic olive tone, but he could say that her skin tone was more pronounced, a stunning color that practically radiated warmth. Scully looked up and smiled at Mulder as he entered.

"Wanna help?" she asked.

"Yes," Mulder agreed, joining them and looking through the sheets of paper. Each one had a different map with markers on to show each group where they needed to be at each point and the order in which they would move in. Mulder spent the next half hour gathering sheets together for Mordecai who had the entire operation committed to memory and was keeping track of exactly how many vampires he assigned into each group. One set had a completely separate set of maps that showed the second attack plan at Fort Marlene. This was a back up known only to Mulder, Scully, Skinner, Mordecai and a select group of five vampires that Mordecai had personally selected for the operation, including Leyla and Tim. These five would infiltrate Fort Marlene moments after the assault at El Rico began with the intention of liberating all the vaccine stored there. It was hoped this would be enough to handle any incidents of the black oil infecting humans during the assault. Mulder handed the maps over to the special five who immediately took off to feed heavily, there would be far more human temptation at the research facility than the limited presence of people at El Rico and no battle to cover their actions.

As they drew close to giving out the final sheets, Scully and Mordecai turned simultaneously toward the windows, Scully frowning slightly.

"What's up?" Mulder asked.

"There's a car approaching," Scully told him, sounding concerned. She and Mulder rose and headed for the front of the house, finding Skinner, Frohike and a half frozen looking Byers en route. Byers blushed slightly as he made eye contact with Scully but she simply smiled and carried on past him as if nothing had happened. She opened the front door just as a battered navy blue Taurus pulled onto the driveway. She laughed slightly as she saw it and shook her head. "I think I'll go inside," she whispered to Mulder with a grin before turning and disappearing into the house. The car slowed and stopped and the engine cut out just before the door opened and a shock of messy yellow hair exited from the driver's side.

"No way," Frohike breathed as Langly slammed the door and made his way across the gravel towards them.

"Dudes," he began cautiously, noticing the stony faces of all his friends.

"Changed your mind huh?" Frohike hissed.

"Yeah well I figured you guys might need some of my sweet kung fu tonight."

"Hah!" Frohike laughed, "we've been getting along just fine without it the last couple of days."

"Frohike don't," Byers cut in, "we know what's at stake tonight, we need all the help we can get. If Langly is prepared to put aside his... issues then we need to accept that for the sake of everyone."

"Fine," Frohike conceded, "but only on one condition." Langly stared at him. "Say it."

"Oh come on!" Langly complained but Frohike cut him off.

"Say it!"

"OK fine," Langly almost spat in what could possibly have been amusement, "your kung fu is better than my kung fu."

"That's a start," Frohike nodded curtly, before turning and disappearing back into the house. The others followed him, Langly trailing last as he got his first glimpse of the vampire filled house.

"We're setting off to El Rico in half an hour," Byers told him quietly, "thanks for coming." The two men shared a look and Byers began to hope that if they lasted the night, that maybe their group could survive this after all.

* * *

><p><strong>Author Notes:<strong>

Not much to say here, I'm guessing everyone know where the chapter title came from and why it's relevant heh. I will simply say enjoy this last slice of "normality" because next chapter everything changes!


	31. Sugar We're Goin' Down Swingin'

It was 10:45 pm when the car carrying the small human contingent of the El Rico group arrived at the woods close to the east gate of the base. Mulder drove the car into the trees as deep as it could go until it was almost entirely obscured; then the five men exited and made their way through the dark undergrowth toward the fence. The woods were still and almost completely silent except for the crunching of leaves under their feet.

"It's too quiet," Langly whispered, "I grew up in the country, I know how noisy the woods are at night." Mulder however felt reassured by the silence.

"Then you should know that the woods always go silent when there are predators about," he replied quietly. He heard Langly's breath hitch behind him as the connection formed in his mind.

"Oh."

Mulder strained his eyes as he stared into the darkness trying to spot one or more of the hundreds of vampires he knew were sharing the woods with them. There was no hint of movement and not a whisper of sound; the only thing that gave the vampires away was the utter silence of the other creatures. After a short walk the men arrived as close to the edge of the tree line as they dared go. From their vantage point they could clearly see the guarded gatehouse and the line of electrified fencing that stretched into the distance in both directions. Mulder wasn't exactly sure how they planned to get onto the base, the point hadn't been discussed much as none of the vampires considered it a problem. He simply knew to wait and it would be dealt with.

"Mulder?"

Scully's voice rang out from the darkness just behind him, the shock causing him to almost give away his position. He spun around to see her standing just behind him, an apologetic expression mixed with amusement on her face and her hands up in a gesture of surrender. Beside her stood Gideon, Harrison, Edwin and Thea.

"Dammit Scully!" Mulder hissed at her, "don't creep up on me like that."

"Can't help it," she replied matter-of-factly, "ready?" she indicated the fence ahead.

"Yes, but how...?" he broke off as Scully put her finger to her lips and indicated for him to watch. Mulder turned back toward the gatehouse as he heard her give a quiet whistle. He almost didn't see the two dark shapes break from the tree line toward the small building. He strained to listen and heard the slightest thump and a strangled cry in the distance; seconds later the two shapes re-appeared and gestured silently. As Mulder watched, hundreds of vampires launched from the woods and began running toward the fences, jumping in time to sail straight over them as others leapt from the tree tops and joined them on the far side of the fence.

"Hold on," Scully said, grabbing Mulder tightly and breaking into a run so fast Mulder's eyes watered and he was forced to close them. He grabbed on tighter as he felt them become airborne and realised they were leaping the sixteen foot high fence, but within a second he felt the gentle thump as they landed. The air whistled past him and he knew they were streaking across the base at great speed. The only sounds he heard besides the wind were occasional gasps which he guessed were coming from Skinner and the Gunmen whom, he could only presume, were being carried in a similar fashion. The image of the others being carried across the airfield by the vampires he'd seen with Scully filled his head and Mulder had to force back a laugh that threatened to choke him as he gasped for oxygen.

They stopped and the air stilled around him instantly. As he opened his eyes he saw Langly on the floor clutching his heart and Byers staring bug-eyed at nothing, waiting for his faculties to catch him up. Looking around, Mulder saw that they were now in the shadows behind one of the smaller support hangars that were dotted around the base. He could hear a lot of activity from the main road that connected the buildings, more than normal at this hour but then tonight was an unusual night by any standards. A couple of the vampires leapt upwards and landed silently on the hangar's roof, others were on the floor apparently catching their breath. Mulder knew that wasn't the case, they were simply trying to control their appetites as the smell of human blood from the base workers invaded their senses. He looked over to Scully and noticed with a slight shiver that she too was breathing hard, her face slightly twisted into the beginnings of a growl. She looked up and caught him watching her making Mulder freeze momentarily in fear as her red eyes pierced his. Edwin must have seen what was happening as he reached out and closed his hand around her forearm. She broke eye contact with Mulder and looked to him instead. Mulder wasn't sure what he said but it appeared to be something reassuring and a second or so later she nodded and looked back, giving Mulder an apologetic half smile. Langly had finally recovered from the run and came over to join him.

"I told you," he hissed, "they can't control themselves, we'll be dead before the night's done."

"If this invasion happens then you'll either be dead or a slave to the colonists," Mulder growled back at him, "given the choice I'd much prefer an instantaneous death by one of these guys wouldn't you?"

"The man has a point," Frohike told Langly as he approached. "Now what?"

"We wait. Remember, the vampires are surrounding the hangar, we're with group seven. We have to wait for the ship to land before we can strike, then these guys will get us through to the control room and you guys do your thing.

"We're ready," Byers told him confidently, holding up his control box ready to plug it into the main computer banks in the control room. "Mordecai, Thea and Lawrence have the devices to put inside the ship, that way if any of them get held up there's still another two."

The wait was agonising. Mulder had no idea how long they sat watching the skies and waiting for the ship to approach. Occasionally he would catch a hint of movement in a shadow but mostly the group stayed still and silent, unwilling to risk being noticed. All he knew was that at some point later, all outside activity on the base stopped and absolute silence descended.

"I think this is it," Scully whispered to him.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Langly muttered behind them. Mulder looked up and sensed that everyone around him was doing the same. He stared at the sky looking for movement but saw nothing except hundreds of stars twinkling in the blackness of the rural West Virginia sky.

"Mulder!" Scully whispered by his ear as she tugged on his sleeve, "there!" He followed her finger into the sky and saw one star that was tinkling more than the others. As he watched it he noticed a faint green glow and realised that it was very slowly increasing in size. He watched in fascinated silence as over the course of several minutes, the bright dot grew ever larger. Soon it was clearly not a star at all and he watched it bank slightly and turn as it came closer toward them. He felt Scully's hand on his arm tighten, without looking he reached over and covered it with his own, squeezing her cold fingers reassuringly. As he did, Mulder remembered what Edwin had told him about vampires feeling emotions more strongly than humans, including fear. Judging by the way his own insides were squirming she must be terrified. He stopped watching the ship for a moment and turned to look at her, she looked back and smiled nervously.

"It's gonna be ok," he assured her, "you've worked on this for months, you know what you're doing." She bit her bottom lip and nodded, he could see the fear in her eyes now. He stroked her cheek, feeling the cool, porcelain smoothness. "Just remember, whatever happens in there, I love you Scully and I always will." Scully's mouth opened a little and she let out a choked sob. As she did Mulder suddenly realised that this was the first time he had ever said the words to her, at least the first time when he wasn't riddled with drugs.

"I love you too," she told him and she leaned over and kissed him. As they embraced Mulder felt a strong wind swirl around them. They broke apart and Mulder saw that the ship was now hovering just a few hundred feet over them. As it moved toward the hangar doors he heard the strange throbbing hum of its engines and saw a band of lights that rotated around the middle. The ship was enormous, bigger than Mulder had ever imagined. He remembered the ship he had watched sail overhead as he lay exhausted on the Antarctic ice several years ago; this new ship made that one look like an insignificant speck against the sky. The ship descended lower and lower and eventually came to rest outside the hangar doors just a few hundred feet from their hiding place. The engine drone receded and silence returned, made all the more eerie by the strange glowing lights that still pulsed from the ship, lighting up their surroundings in a greenish haze.

The group stood and made for the door, a small side entrance to the hangar which according to their plans was situated almost directly opposite the control room. As they ran, Mulder heard the sound of the giant doors at the far end of the hangar sliding open. The group arrived at their door and Scully took a moment before cracking it open. The room was filled with bright white light, so intense that it blinded all the humans outside. Scully gently pulled each of them through the door as Mulder's eyes adjusted to the glare. He could just make out the open doors and the ship beyond them. In the middle of the room a group of around 100 humans were stood, huddled together. One man in an Air Force uniform whom Mulder didn't recognise stood behind a desk slightly ahead of the group. Approaching them was a group of what Mulder recognised as the alien colonists. Only around 20 of them were coming toward the humans but Mulder could see at least another few hundred who had disembarked the ship and were milling around curiously at the far end of the hangar. As the leader of the colonists reached the desk, Mulder heard a sharp whistle from somewhere. Before the sound had echoed away, hundreds of human shapes had leapt from the shadows, circling the group and cutting off the colonists escape back to the ship. He only had a moment to watch before he felt Scully grab him and they were flying across the hangar floor toward the control room. He heard the metallic clang as Gideon kicked down the door and was back on his own feet, following Scully and the others up into the room. The few soldiers in there didn't have chance to defend themselves; Gideon and Harrison took them down before the Gunmen had even made it to the top of the stairs. Byers said nothing and immediately moved to the computer banks with Langly beside him. Frohike moved to a position by the partially frosted glass wall where he could see down toward the ship and watch for Mordecai's signal. Mulder and Skinner both grabbed assault rifles from the dead soldiers and moved to the top of the stairs where they crouched down in defensive positions. Scully shot Mulder one last nervous look before running back down the stairs and slamming the metal door behind her.

The men in the control room stayed silent. It was unlikely that any of the colonists were even aware of their presence and as long as they could maintain that secret, they were safe. The noises from the hangar floor were horrifying. Mulder couldn't see down and the frosted glass obscured even Frohike's view but for long minutes screaming, shrieking and angry roars were all that filled his ears.

"What's taking so long?" Byers fretted quietly from the computer desk.

"I don't know," Frohike whispered back, his eyes fixed on the base of the ship where Mordecai would send him the morse code light signal when the devices were planted. "I can't see much but there must be thousands of them down there. It's carnage." Mulder stayed crouched, every muscle tensed. He could see Skinner drawing on his Marine experience, his body rigid, hands clamped on this weapon in the way that only a trained soldier could. He tried to drown out the noises from below, tried not to think that every shriek of pain he heard could have come from Scully. The colonists couldn't kill her, but they could easily cause her excruciating agony. He was so focused on his thoughts that the sound of breaking glass on his right side caught him by surprise. He had barely stood up when he noticed the broken glass of the frosted wall and realised he was staring into the black eyes of a juvenile colonist. The creature cocked its head at him and chittered before launching straight for him. Mulder didn't even have time to raise his weapon before the long claws dug deeply into his abdomen and a sickening crack sounded from his left temple. He thought he heard himself scream and the sound of a rifle discharging multiple times but the room was already fading into darkness. The last thing he remembered was the sound of Byers' voice calling his name, and the cadence of utter terror it contained.

Even amid the deafening roar of the battle, Scully's ears picked out the sound of Mulder's agonized cry. She froze for a beat then spun to look up at the control room, instantly spotting the silhouette of the alien colonist through what remained of the glass wall; she growled viciously and ran for the room, decapitating another colonist with her arm as she flew by. Edwin had also heard Mulder's cry and the two of them raced into the control room together. Langly and Skinner had backed the now wounded creature into a corner but Frohike was on the floor sporting a clearly broken arm and was bleeding badly from a headwound. Scully caught the scent of blood but the alien let out a high pitched chitter, ripping her attention back to it.

"Is that the one?" she growled, advancing toward the creature. "Is that the one that hurt Mulder?"

"It surprised us," Byers replied in a panic from the floor. He was crouched beside Mulder who was unconscious and bleeding badly from serious stomach and head wounds. A guttural shriek ripped from Scully's throat and she launched at the alien, tearing it into pieces with her hands. She was momentarily aware of the gasps of horror from the Gunmen and Skinner, and of the pitiful scream from the creature, but the noises were insignificant compared to her rage. Suddenly she realised that the creature no longer existed in any meaningful way, instead she was holding a piece of grey-green flesh in her hand and her clothes were wet and stained bottle green. She spun on the spot and leapt back to crouch beside Mulder who had started convulsing. His eyes were closed and his skin had turned grey.

"He's bleeding too badly," Edwin told her quietly before she had chance to speak, "and I think he might have a fractured skull."

"Save him," Scully demanded as a voice in her head began taunting her, telling her that this was all her fault. If she'd just listened to Mulder and agreed to stay with him in the room then this would never have happened.

"Dana, no doctor could," Edwin began.

"Save him!" she shrieked, sending the others in the room skittering backward in a nervous retreat.

"I can't!" Edwin snarled back at her, "he's lost too much blood, he's dying. The only way to save him now would be to..."

"What? Tell me!" she roared at him.

"To turn him," Edwin replied.

"Here?" she breathed. "But I can't, not yet."

"The only other choice now is to let him die," Edwin told her calmly.

"No," she growled, "you change him."

"He wanted you to do it," he told her. "He told me the other night. Dana he's dying, he has a rare brain disease that he's been hiding from you for months. He'd already planned for this, he wanted it and he wanted you to be the one who turned him. Only you." Scully looked at him, fear and confusion in her eyes as she tried to make sense of the situation.

"But I'll kill him!"

"I'll be here, I'll stop you. You can do this," he assured her, "but you must do it now."

Scully looked around at the huddled group of humans watching her. With her eyes she silently challenged them to object; Langly turned away but the others simply nodded. For a brief moment a noise distracted her and she looked down through the hole in the frosted glass that stretched to the floor. She could see the outline of the ship outside and the movements of the others in the battle. She had forgotten it was even happening. Turning back to Mulder she bent low over him letting the scent of his blood course through her, she felt the hunting instinct starting to take over and the slight snarl in her throat as the blood lust began. Taking one last deep breath she raised his arm and sank her teeth into the soft, thin flesh inside his elbow releasing the venom designed solely to transform or kill. Mulder's eyes flew open and he tried to scream as the venom hit his bloodstream but the pain paralyzed him before the sound could escape. His eyes found Scully's and locked with hers for a second before the pain forced him to black out and her face faded from his view. Scully kept her eyes open as she drank, feeling the endorphins rush through her. She knew she should stop but now the time had come she couldn't remember why; the taste was just too good, she had to keep drinking. She heard her name being called from somewhere, she thought it might be close but it echoed inside her mind making it easy to ignore. Her name again, more urgent this time. She tried to shut the noise out, it was distracting her from the sweet blood. Then the taste was ripped away as a tremendous force hit her in the stomach, sending her flying backward across the room. She roared in anger, launching to her feet as soon as she landed and coming face to face with Edwin who was crouched in an attack position over Mulder's body facing her.

"Dana!" he growled, "enough!" She growled again in reply but it felt wrong now. Memories were coming back to her, pain and fear and guilt. She felt frightened, unsure about where she was. Then Edwin was by her side, his hand stroking her arm reassuringly.

"It's ok," he told her. She looked around and saw that the others were all staring at her in fear, she remembered why and her hands flew to her mouth in horror.

"Oh my God," she breathed as she caught sight of Mulder's body lying ghostly pale in a pool of his own blood. Her hands flew to her mouth, coming away smeared bright red. As panic flooded her system, new screams and shouts began to rise from the hangar floor. She looked through the frosted glass and saw the lights of the ship beginning to rotate around it as the hum of an engine rumbled to life.

"We didn't disable the ship!" Byers croaked in horror as he glanced at the black box he had helped build which now lay forgotten on the floor, "it stopped us." Scully ran for the hole in the glass, leaping down into the hangar as the ship gained height, already almost 50ft above the ground. She noticed a dozen vampires hanging onto it, ripping chunks from the hull with their bare hands but their efforts had no effect and the ship continued to rise.

"We never even got on board," Mordecai said as he ran to join her, "we killed thousands of them but there must be thousands more." Scully nodded numbly. The plan had failed and now she felt lost with no idea what step to take next. She stared at the ship as it became level with the hangar's roof over 100ft in the air, watching the last remaining vampires jump down as it took off at incredible speed, disappearing into the night sky. A noise broke through her thoughts and she turned to see Skinner and Byers carrying Mulder's body carefully down the metal staircase. The two men looked deadly serious and Frohike followed them, a worn look of anguish on his face and his arm tied up in a hastily made sling. Looking up she spotted Langly leaning against a railing, his t-shirt covered in Mulder's blood and a murderous expression on his face as he stared back at her. She felt the blind panic rise again in her mind as she remembered drinking Mulder's blood and growling at Edwin as he threw her from his body. She combined the images with the looks on her friend's faces. She must have killed him; drank too much and... Her brain shut down as paralyzing despair settled over it. She felt a hand on her arm and jerked it away, running for the doors.

"Dana!" a voice called from behind her. "Dana stop!" but it was too late, she was already gone.

**END OF PART TWO**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author Notes:<strong>_

Hi guys! Well I guess I made you all wait long enough. According to the revisions list on Google Drive I wrote the original draft of this chapter on December 28th 2012 and have tweaked it almost every week since. Nine months of editing: I hope it was worth it. This chapter was originally supposed to be the end of the story with Mulder and Scully defeating the alien colonists and going off to live happily ever after. It was only when I started writing it that it became clear that things just would never work out that way. The course of defeating alien invasions never did run smooth. Anyway I'd love to hear what you think and I'll be back with part three very soon. Oh, and the title is courtesy of Fall Out Boy!


	32. The Motion Keeps My Heart From You

She didn't know where she was running to, nor how long she had been running there, she knew only that her feet wouldn't stop.

Her mind felt like it was being crushed from all sides, panic coursed through her in waves. She was a doctor, she knew the symptoms. If one of her patients was acting this way she would have prescribed sedation only she knew that wasn't an option for vampires. She felt relief at the knowledge that no one could sedate her against her will but that feeling was immediately swept away by another wave of panic. If she couldn't be sedated then she could never escape her own mind if it became too much.

She continued running with no clue as to where she was, all that registered were trees and sky and grass and rocks, as clear to her in the darkness as they would have been to a human in the brightest sunlight. On she went, putting space between her and Mulder. Mulder. A fresh wave of terror and guilt threatened to engulf her. Had she really killed him? Was he was lying dead in that Godforsaken base surrounded by their friends as she ran from him like a coward? Would they take care of him, take him someplace safe? She felt sick at the memory of drinking his blood and being too enraptured to stop herself. At the way Edwin had been forced to rip her from him, at how she had snarled at him in anger at being denied her meal; anger at not being allowed to kill Mulder. Langly was right. She could pretend all she wanted, live surrounded by the superficial trappings of civilisation but she would never be more than a killer. A wild animal in human clothing and now she was sure of it.

She wanted to stop, to throw herself to the floor and never get up but that wasn't an option, death would never come for her no matter how much she begged for it. God damn Clyde Bruckman and his stupid visions of the future. God damn Alfred Fellig and his stupid camera. God damn Edwin and his stupidly convincing monologue about how the world needed her to be in it if there was to be any hope of surviving colonization. God damn them all to hell. What if she now lived in a world without Mulder or a way out? She would be condemned forever to live without him. A painful shriek emerged from her as she sobbed, not daring to stop. If she stopped then the paralysing guilt she felt at the edges of her consciousness would take hold and she would never be able to force herself to move again. She would lie there motionless until the forest grew around her and claimed her for itself. She'd heard that campfire tale before. Vampires had their own horror stories.

The woods were quiet, the animals nearby had sensed her presence and were sensibly sheltering themselves. She was more dangerous than usual and she knew it, apparently they did too. She heard a crack somewhere behind her, a branch breaking as someone stepped on it. Maybe a hunter. Her subconscious warned her that killing an innocent human wasn't her style, that she would regret this later if she acted now but she shut the voice out. She was a killer anyway now, what did it matter? She wheeled around to track the new prey, curious as to why she couldn't yet smell its blood. Another crack, this time above her. She looked up and saw a pair of red eyes glinting back at her from high in a tree.

"Dana?" a voice asked cautiously from where the eyes rested.

"Thea?" she replied, coming to a halt at the base of the trunk, "what are you doing here?"

"I followed you. Mulder's ok," Thea said quickly, clearly eager to get the news out before Scully had the chance to bolt again. "The venom is working. Edwin and Gideon are moving him and the others to safety." Scully felt stunned; she'd been so convinced he was dead. She collapsed against the tree hearing it groan, fibers tearing as she pressed her weight against it and slid down to the ground. There was a gentle thud as Thea landed on the carpet of leaves beside her and sat down, taking her hand in a sympathetic, sisterly gesture. Thea reminded Scully of Melissa in many ways. She was always smiling, always deeply empathetic towards others and always going on about spirituality; she even wore a crystal around her neck most of the time. Of course where looks were concerned, Thea was absolutely nothing like Melissa. Whispy and thin with long wavy blonde hair and skin that was pale even by vampire standards, Thea looked like a cross between a Scandinavian supermodel and a Californian surfer chick. She still dressed as if the 1970s had never ended, preferring the cheesecloth shirts and flared jeans that had been in fashion the day she died. Thea had been the first vampire whom Scully had asked about her transformation. She learned that as a student Thea had been involved in a college campus rally over women's rights that had gone horribly wrong. She had been struck by a group of thugs and left in a campus flowerbed to bleed to death from a massive head wound. Edwin had also been at the rally. At the time he was teaching toxicology at the same university and had been transfixed by this new young student, desperately trying to keep his distance but watching out for her nonetheless. He had sensed the attack and run to find her, making the snap judgment to transform her there and then. She had been shocked to awaken three days later at his cabin in the forests of Washington but had been grateful and intrigued by her new life. Sadly for Edwin, Thea had never returned his feelings toward her but the two had bonded well and, along with Gideon, formed the beginnings of a family unit or at least the vampire equivalent of one.

Scully blinked and shook her head to return her thoughts to the present. Thea was still beside her, holding her hand.

"Where are we?" Scully asked.

"Close to Baltimore," Thea told her. "It took me almost four hours to catch you. I figured you were running home." Scully looked up at the sky thoughtfully, the first tendrils of light were starting to snake across from the east bringing dawn with them. She shook her head slowly.

"No, I don't think that's where I was going," she murmured. Thea furrowed her brow but didn't speak. "It's Thursday morning isn't it?" Scully asked.

"Yep, Thanksgiving. Not that we have anything much to be thankful for right now. Well other than everyone living through the night of course." Scully's head snapped around to stare at her incredulously. "In a manner of speaking," Thea continued in a quieter voice.

"I think I know where I was headed then," Scully informed her. "But we're going to have to wait a couple of hours." She stood up and brushed then crumbled leaves and dirt from her clothes. "Come on, I'll explain on the way and you can tell me what happened after I left." Thea stood and the pair began to run through the woods together.

.

.

.

"That was delicious mom," Charlie enthused from the far end of the table.

"Mmm yes, absolutely delicious," Bill agreed as heads nodded all around the large table that currently stood in Margaret Scully's dining room. A number of mismatched seats had been pulled in from other parts of the house to accommodate everyone. Maggie smiled and looked around the table, surveying the now-empty dinner plates at every setting except for those of the four Scully grandchildren. Seven-year-old Luke and two-year-old Matthew had both avoided all but the very smallest bites of vegetables insisted upon by their fathers, leaving behind large piles on their plates. Maggie's eldest grandchildren, Charlie's 16-year-old twins Toby and Daniel, were currently on their fourth helpings apiece and she felt quietly vindicated for her decision to buy a second sack of potatoes and an extra-large turkey.

"Thank you," she said, "I'm so happy you could all come over today. With all that's happened this year, losing Dana," her voice caught slightly as she spoke, "well I guess I was finding it hard to be thankful for very much this year. Seeing you all together here, I suppose it's reminded me of just how lucky I still am despite all that. I just wish..." She trailed off without ending her sentence.

"We all wish that Dana and Missy and Dad were here," Charlie told her, reaching out and giving his mother's hand a squeeze as he noticed the glint of tears in her eyes. "But we can be thankful for all the memories they gave us and that we'll all be together again one day."

"You're right," she smiled, dabbing at her eyes with a corner of her napkin, "do you think they're all having their own Thanksgiving dinner together somewhere?"

"Can you imagine?" Bill laughed, "poor old Dad in the middle of those two without any other testosterone to help him out. They're probably winding him up by talking about all Missy's old boyfriends." Everyone at the table laughed, almost drowning out the sound of the doorbell ringing. Maggie looked over her shoulder towards the hallway.

"Now who on Earth could that be?" she wondered aloud, wiping her hands quickly before rising from her chair.

"Did you invite Agent Mulder over?" Charlie asked.

"Yes but he said he had plans," Maggie replied as she walked out of the room, "I've barely heard from him the past few months." She rounded the corner and picked up her keys from the glass bowl on top of the sideboard as she passed. The action briefly reminded her of her youngest daughter who had insisted she start locking the door at all times, even when visitors were over. At first she'd called it paranoia, but with everything that had happened to Dana and to their family in general it now seemed like a sensible precaution. She reached the door and pushed her key in, turning it forcefully to get past the sticking point she'd never bothered to have fixed and preparing to shoo away whoever was there so she could quickly get back to her family. She pulled the door open and gasped, choking back sobs as she came face to face with her youngest daughter who waited nervously on the doorstep.

"Hi Mom" Scully whispered.


	33. In Your Room

When he opened his eyes his mind was scrambled; so full of words that none had a chance to take hold and gain meaning. Bright. Window. Vase. Trees. Books. Ceiling. Red. Scully. Something clicked inside; this new word was different. Important. Another new word appeared in his mind. Mulder. Only this word came from somewhere else, somewhere outside. It appeared in his mind again and he remembered. He was Mulder. He heard the word again only this time he understood something else; this word wasn't being created by him, it was being spoken by someone else. He wasn't alone. His eyes scanned the room rapidly, landing on the red something that glittered and shone in the sunlight. The red something moved, his eyes traced its movement and more words flooded his mind. Soft. Skin. Eyes. Dana. The words began to coalesce into meaning and a new one joined them. Vampire. He tried to force his brain to assemble the words into coherent thoughts but failed. Rather than a real thought he simply felt the urge to move, so he did, standing up so fast he momentarily remembered the word dizzy, realizing in the same instant that it didn't apply here. Another impulse overcame him, this time to move toward the red something he now recalled as Scully, to touch her. He obeyed the instinct; feeling her hair in his fingers and understanding why the word soft had appeared in his mind. He moved his eyes and found hers, she was looking at him strangely. Mulder tried to find a word that described her expression. Nervous. Curious. Happy. All of them seemed equally correct.

"Mulder?"

This time he saw her lips forming the word and heard it as a distinct voice in his mind, separate from all the other words jumbling around in there. He remembered how to speak.

"Scully?"

His voice sounded strange but Scully smiled so widely that he forgot about it as soon as he thought it.

"I thought I'd lost you," she whispered. The words confused him and it must have shown on his face. She looked pained. "What do you remember?" He tried to bring up memories but everything was a chaotic mix of images flashing around. A few seemed to be clearer than the others so he recounted them.

"Woods, running, spaceship, fighting" he told her slowly. The memory hit with such overwhelming power and detail that he doubled over, clutching his forehead and chest. "Pain!" he half shouted as the image of the alien face swept into his mind, obliterating everything else. He felt her hand grasp his arm and steady him as he looked up into her eyes. The sight of their red glow banished the alien from his mind and replaced it with a fresh memory. Her eyes locked with his as she sank her teeth into his flesh and caused the waves of unbearable agony to race from his elbow through his nerves, paralysing him with pain and rendering him unconscious seconds later.

"You bit me." It wasn't a question.

"Yes," she replied hesitantly. "You were dying, it was the only way."

"Does that mean...?" he began, trailing off as he registered her hand on his arm. "You don't feel cold anymore," he stated quietly.

"No, I wouldn't."

"Because we're the same temperature now?"

"Yes."

He moved away from her, walking toward the window where sunlight poured in from the brilliant blue sky. He approached the sunlight gingerly, slowly pushing his arm forward into the light. Where it touched he felt a pleasant, warm tingling. Looking down at his hand he saw a slight glow, nothing any human would actually notice but enough to trigger the subconscious that something was different about that person. He turned to Scully who was still standing beside the messy bed that must have been where he had slept off the transformation.

"I'm a vampire," he stated to the room. Scully looked slightly nervous as she watched him react. The smile began slowly in one corner of his mouth then quickly spread across his features as he stepped fully into the sunlight, embracing the warmth and the strange glow. "I'm a vampire Scully!" Her eyebrow raised and she smirked at him.

"Yeah, I'd noticed that." He reached out to her and she walked toward him and into the sunlight. Mulder stared in admiration as he fully appreciated her new, flawless features.

"You... are... beautiful," he breathed aloud as he stared at her, noticing that the sunlight bounced off her hair in a way that seemed to incorporate some strange hue he had never seen before.

"You're not that bad looking yourself," she replied with a smile as he reached out and gripped her in a hug. As they pulled apart their eyes locked and a new memory flooded his mind, a conversation about not performing certain acts with her that could have resulted in serious injury or perhaps even his death. He also remembered that the reason for not performing those acts was now merely a memory. As he reached this conclusion his expression changed slightly, she mirrored him immediately and he knew the same thoughts had crossed her mind. Without a word he opened his mouth and kissed her for so long that Scully found herself grateful that her new body no longer required oxygen.

Several hours later, Scully and Mulder were still in the large bedroom in which he had awoken. They lay together on the bed which was decidedly more tousled than it had been before. Mulder's fingers traced slow patterns on Scully's bare stomach as she lay with her head resting on his shoulder breathing deeply to inhale his scent. She felt more relaxed now than she had in days, or even months. Together they watched the sunlight bounce off the leaves in the forest. The light had a slightly prismatic effect to their eyes and appeared to twinkle, making the whole forest shimmer. Mulder had been transfixed by the phenomena for several minutes.

"You should see it when it rains," Scully told him, more enraptured by Mulder than the leaves which she had seen many times before. "The water magnifies the prism effect even more powerfully. It's like nothing you've ever seen, the whole forest glitters."

"I hope it rains soon," Mulder replied, pulling his eyes from the window and back to her face.

"Next time it does we'll go for a run in the forest," she told him. He watched her for a few moments.

"My memories are coming back more strongly now," he told her eventually. "I need to know what happened after I was hurt. How long have I been out?"

"Three days," she replied sadly, "the guys moved you here after the attack."

"Where were you?" he asked, a hint of anger and betrayal prickling his mind at the realisation that she had not been beside him the entire time.

"I..." she hesitated, "I ran at first. I thought I'd done too much damage, that I'd hurt you too badly, that you were dead. I was afraid. I couldn't face it. Thea caught up with me and told me you were going to be ok, that the venom was working."

"And then?"

"And then I realized where I was."

"Which was?"

"Most of the way to Baltimore. Subconsciously I'd made the decision to go to my family, to rescue them and get them to safety. It was a backup plan those of us with human family and friends thought up called Operation Contego." She paused but Mulder raised his eyebrows to indicate that she should continue. "There's a house about 300 miles from here, out in the forests east of Syracuse," she explained. "It's completely inaccessible to humans except if one of us were to carry you there, one of the only buildings in the country built by vampires. It's completely off the grid, no roads, no phones; there wasn't even electricity until a few years ago when Edwin and a few others installed solar panels on the roof. It's where we planned to hide out if the worst came to pass."

"So you went to your mother's house?" Mulder asked, standing up and beginning to pace the room.

"Yes." Mulder considered her for a moment, pausing briefly in his movements.

"What about Bill and Charlie, their families?" he asked. "If you've decided to bring your mother into this then what about them?"

"They were at Mom's" she explained slowly. "The day before yesterday was Thanksgiving." The word sparked more memories for Mulder, how he'd hoped that they would stop colonization on that Wednesday and be able to truly celebrate Thanksgiving after they'd saved the world together. It seemed naive somehow now - too Hollywood to ever have a chance in the real world. "I explained what was going on and convinced them to move," Scully continued, "Suzanne Modeski's there too, and Thea's sister Jodi. There's about 75 people in total whose names were agreed on to be moved, I think most of them have been relocated now." Mulder stopped pacing and stood in total silence for a few long moments as he contemplated the wealth of new information.

"Dana," he asked, his voice utterly serious, "what happened after I was hurt? Right after that. What happened to the ship?"

"It got away," she almost whispered. "The attack failed, and now we don't know what to do." Mulder stared at her, she seemed on the verge of tears.

"How?"

"We failed," she choked out, "I failed. The ship got away before the Gunmen's virus could disable it and now they know that we're on the offensive. We underestimated their numbers; no matter how many of them we killed there seemed to be double that number to replace them. As soon as they realized we were destroying them so easily they just cut their losses and ran. Without the ship being disabled they could just retreat, and they did."

"Then we'll find another way to fight," he replied immediately.

"How?" she asked, her voice defeated.

"The vaccine," he said, as if the answer was obvious, "Tim and Leyla were going to retrieve the supplies stored at Fort Marlene right? Did they get them?"

"Yes, but Mulder there's barely enough to inoculate the people we've gathered up and moved, how would we manage to get it out across the entire population?"

"Make more," he told her. She stared at him, slightly open mouthed.

"How?"

"You're the scientist," he snapped, instantly regretting his tone, "you have a sample, reverse engineer it."

"Do you have any idea how long it took them to develop this?" she asked incredulously, "even reverse engineering from a sample could take years, and that's with access to the top labs in the country. There's no time."

"What are you talking about?" he demanded. "They'll need to reassess the situation, to plan a new strategy against us if they know that we're fighting back. That will buy us time."

"No Mulder, time is the one thing we don't have," she said sadly. She stood up and moved across the room to turn on the small television that perched atop a chest of drawers, switching over to CNN. She watched the scrolling headlines herself for a moment before turning to look at Mulder who stared at the words uncomprehendingly.

"What does that mean?" he asked.

"The media's calling it the Bee Flu or Apian Flu when they want to sound more technical," she explained, "you know how they like to give everything a name." She paused and looked back at the screen briefly. "It means it's starting already." A look of horror slowly drew across Mulder's features as the words in the morning's headlines finally registered their meaning.

**APIAN FLU LATEST: FEMA TO ASSUME FEDERAL JURISDICTION AS GOVERNMENT DECLARES NATIONAL EMERGENCY**

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><p><em>Author Note:<em>

Hey everyone, happy Halloween! I hope you enjoyed this first look at Mulder in his new vampire form. Updates throughout Nov will probably be sporadic as I'm participating in Nanowrimo with another story so this one will be receiving a little less attention. To make it up to you I'm going to be releasing my "cast" photos, photoshopped images of the actors and actresses I've mentally cast in the story; hopefully you'll enjoy putting faces to names. I'm starting off with Scully who obviously you all know but maybe you've not seen her as a vampire yet! You'll need to click on my profile to find the links to the pictures as I can't add them here, let me know what you think and if there's anyone in particular you'd like to see next. Thanks for sticking with me and I'll be back soon!


	34. Do You Remember the First Time?

Mulder's first week as a vampire was far more frustrating than he ever anticipated. More than anything he wanted to move to the large house near Syracuse where most of the other vampires and his friends were living, but until he could get his thirst under control he couldn't risk being anywhere near humans. He spent his days alternating between learning to hunt in the forests with Scully and doing as much research as possible on the current state of affairs, finding himself increasingly grateful for the Internet. Edwin would visit them daily bringing with him the latest from the house. Unfortunately he also brought with him the sweet smell of human blood which permeated his clothes and made Mulder salivate in a way that continually frightened him despite Scully's assurances that one day he would be able to tolerate it easily.

One night, after Edwin had left, Scully found Mulder sitting cross-legged on a rocky outcrop that overlooked the ocean. She climbed up beside him easily and sat down, resting her head on his shoulder.

"I hate this Scully," he whined, "there's so much I could be doing if I didn't have this stupid problem. You and the others manage, why can't I?"

"It's only been a week," Scully reminded him calmly, "a week after my transformation Edwin still had me shut in his basement with about thirty locks on a solid steel door to keep me from killing his next door neighbours. I didn't get to see daylight for almost three weeks. I thought I'd go mad, I actually ripped an entire couch apart with my bare hands after the first week because I was so frustrated. Edwin wasn't especially pleased about that." Mulder chuckled softly at her.

"You never told me much about when you woke up from the transformation," he said, "what was it like for you?"

"I was frightened," she replied thoughtfully, "Edwin had done his best to prepare me for what it would be like but we didn't really have much time. I woke up in a strange room and the scent of human blood was everywhere; not that I immediately recognised it for what it was, I just knew it was something I had to have and I was locked away from it. Edwin said it took almost an hour before he could even speak to me, I was practically rabid." She looked embarrassed at the story but Mulder felt nothing but sympathy as recalled his first moment scenting blood. Scully had washed everything in the house as he transformed to dull the smell as much as possible; her attempt at making his early days more bearable. When a jogger ran along the beach on his first night the smell had attacked him viciously and he had bolted for her. Scully had fought him back and stopped him from killing the poor girl and he then spent the entire evening trying to cope with the weight of guilt he had experienced as he realised what he almost did. Scully assured him constantly that it was normal. Mulder snapped back to her story, nodding reassuringly at her.

"What did you do while you were locked in the basement?" he asked, fighting the images in his head of his partner pleading with Edwin for freedom. Scully hated being confined, she had too many bad memories entwined with the sensation. Mulder couldn't begin to imagine what three weeks in a single darkened room had done to her.

"I read a lot," she began thoughtfully, "Edwin had cable down there so I tried watching TV but it was too slow so I would get annoyed at it. At least with the books I could go at my own pace. Edwin showed me a lot of stuff too, tricks and things like how he could jump the width of the room and somersault over the furniture. I think that was the first time I laughed after the transformation. Edwin comes across as such a normal, human man that it was hilarious the first time I watched him flip over the bookcases we'd moved to the middle of the room. Learning to do that kept me occupied for a whole day, I had to completely re-learn what my own body was capable of which was really interesting. I remember trying to stab myself with various objects to see if any of them could penetrate my skin." Scully paused as she saw Mulder wince at her description. "Sorry," she whispered.

"It's ok, I guess I just find it hard to deal with the image of anybody trying to hurt you, even if that person is you," Mulder replied.

"I think Edwin thought it was funny," Scully laughed, a mischievous glint appearing in her eyes, "I did discover that if I whacked myself hard enough with a meat cleaver I could split the skin, and it made a funny fwang-ing sound when the metal reverberated." Mulder winced even more at the mental picture she had just drawn. "I was very, very bored," she explained.

"Clearly," Mulder drawled, "if I ever get bored enough to start experimenting on myself with kitchen implements please do me a favor and suggest we go for a run or something will you?"

"Noted," Scully grinned for a second before her face became serious again. "Those weeks were the longest in my life," she told him sadly, "I was so scared Mulder, I wanted you so badly but I knew I couldn't see you, not even when Edwin finally decided I was controlled enough for him to get me out and up here. It hurt so much." She looked tiny as she spoke and Mulder put his arm around her, pulling her toward him. She snuggled up against him, feeling his chest rise and fall as he practised his breathing movements.

"You never have to be away from me again," he whispered into her hair, "never again, nothing can keep us apart now." He felt her nod against him and they sat in silence listening to the ocean waves as it grew darker.

"What do you smell?" Scully asked him a little later. He took a few deep breaths and focused on the information he could gather from them.

"Mostly you," he began, not adding that half the reason he kept up his breathing practise so diligently was so he could sense Scully and keep track of her even when she was out of sight. "I smell the ocean, the seaweed and the wet sand. I smell the chlorophyll from the forest and the damp moss and the saturated earth. I smell..." he paused as a new, sharp smell intruded. He focused on it but was unable to place it. "I'm not sure," he admitted, "but it smells good."

"It's coyote," Scully told him, "judging by the direction of the wind and the strength of the smell I'd say there's at least three of them and they're ten miles or so west of us. Hungry?" Mulder shot her a smile.

"Lead on partner." Scully rose from the rocks and jumped down into the underbrush, not pausing before taking off in a run for the woods. This had become a game between them over the past few days. Scully was faster than Mulder and more nimble, she could change direction rapidly and could also spring up the trees without warning. Mulder on the other hand was tougher than her. Rather than darting around obstacles he simple powered through them and so the pair were evenly matched in their races. Mulder chased after her, Scully's red hair giving her position away in the surrounding green. She was banking toward the right, leading them away from Buzzard's Bay as she followed the curve of highway six but stayed well out of sight of the traffic. She knew these woods well now after spending months running through them either hunting or just for fun, which is why it surprised her when she realised she had somehow lost Mulder. She froze and listened carefully, unable to her his movements anywhere.

"Mulder?" she called into the forest which stayed silent around her. "Mulder!" her voice rose an octave as nerves got the better of her. He was a vampire now she assured herself, but if any man could get himself into a scrape even after becoming immortal and practically indestructible it was Fox Mulder. She began slowly back tracking, following the route she had come down into a patch of thicker, older trees. His scent was here meaning he must have passed through, so where the hell was he now? The forest was silent and she paused in her movements, listening closely. There was a faint noise behind her and she spun on the spot just as the heavy weight landed and knocked her onto her back on the ground. She screamed as a hand pinned both of hers to the soft, mossy ground above her head; a strong hand that was powerful enough to still her movements. She looked up and came face-to-face with Mulder who was leaning over her, grinning madly as she struggled beneath him.

"Gotcha!" he whispered, lowering his free hand to tickle her stomach just above her right hip, a spot in which he had recently discovered Scully was extraordinarily ticklish. She squealed and tried to pull her hands away to fight him off but he was much stronger than her and continued to hold her in place without any apparent effort as he tortured her.

"Please, please!" she begged, "please!" He relented and stopped tickling her but kept her hands pinned to the ground knowing full well that if he freed her she would try for revenge. "Dammit Mulder you scared me," she hissed angrily. Mulder looked at her in amusement thinking how funny she appeared shouting at him while he still held her in the soft ground, leaves and moss strewn into her hair. He was reminded of a snake lying in the grass; beautiful to look at but utterly deadly if angered. He decided it was probably not a good idea to share this observation with her.

"I'm sorry," he replied honestly, "but I saw this place and it was beautiful, I wanted to see you in it." Scully quelled her annoyance enough to look around. The little patch of forest was lit by moonlight and the mossy ground was very soft, so much so that she felt strangely comfortable. She looked back up at Mulder who was smiling sheepishly at her.

"It is beautiful," she agreed, "but you know that I will have my revenge for this don't you?"

"I know," he agreed, finally releasing her hands. Scully didn't try to get up, instead she rolled her shoulders and relaxed back into the moss, looking up into the stars. They reminded her of a night she had run through Canada alone. She would never forget that night and one day she would share it with Mulder, but not tonight. She clamped down the memory and buried it, not wanting Mulder's growing psychic powers to latch on. Mulder was sat watching her, his red eyes reflected the starlight and she smiled at him. For the first time in years she felt safe. "Still hungry?" Mulder asked her quietly, sniffing the air to try and detect the direction in which the coyote pack had moved.

"Yeah," she murmured, "but not for coyote." She reached up and grabbed him around the neck, dragging him down on top of her. She kissed him eagerly and Mulder realised he didn't care much about coyotes anymore either.

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><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

_Wow, it's been over a month, sorry to have left you all hanging so long! On the plus side I completed NaNoWriMo for the first time and that has resulted in two brand new X-Files fics for you all to read one day. They need a lot of editing first though so right now they've been put to one side to allow Dana's Choice to finally be completed. There's a new "cast" photo link up on my profile so if y'all wanna know what Edwin looks like then take a look. Mulder IS coming but he's being awkward (as usual). One final thing; this chapter's title comes from an awesome song by Pulp - go check it out._


	35. Homeward Bound

It took Mulder just over a month to get his thirst under control. After a couple of weeks he was about able to cope with the occasional joggers and dog walkers who made their way up the beach but prolonged contact with the smell of human blood proved more difficult. Scully found herself forced to take occasional trips away from him up to the new house to work on the vaccine with Harrison and Suzanne, whose scientific backgrounds were coming in especially helpful. She also met regularly with Mordecai and Lawrence who were attempting to coordinate the efforts of the vampires; however the groups' plans eventually began to run out of steam. All the while the news reports they heard each night became more and more disturbing. Thousands of people had now been infected with what the media had termed Apian Flu and were lying comatose in hospitals across the country and into Canada and Mexico. Charlotte's friend Malcolm who lived in London occasionally called with the latest news from Europe. After the first fortnight had passed he phoned in to confirm reports of the first suspected infections in London, Paris and Geneva; it was only a matter of days before the infections began spreading to more and more cities and out toward Russia and the Eastern Block. Africa and Australia were also beginning to report infections and China had long since closed its borders in a futile effort to stop the epidemic from spreading through their country - a move ridiculed mercilessly by Mulder who pointed out that bees don't generally pay much attention to international borders.

"What I don't understand," Scully said one late afternoon as she and Mulder walked back from hunting, "is why the victims aren't turning into new colonists like we saw in Dallas. Why are they just going into comas?"

"I'm not sure," Mulder mused, he had been considering the same question. "My guess would be that this is a new strain and that at some point the colonists will remotely trigger the change and everyone currently in a coma will begin to gestate simultaneously. Perhaps that's their new plan; overwhelming our forces by releasing the new colonists at once?" Scully nodded.

"It makes sense," she agreed, "I suppose that at least buys us some time to work on a cure."

"Have Suzanne and Harrison found anything?" Mulder asked, whacking a large branch out of his way which split with a deafening crack.

"No," Scully sighed, "the black oil is so alien by its nature that it's taking all we have just to understand it. We've looked at the vaccine and understand the basic principles but we're at a loss as to how to replicate it. Plus none of us are even in that field by training; a bio weapons specialist, a forensic pathologist and a high school chemistry teacher trying to develop a vaccine together."

"It sounds like the start of a joke the guys in the FBI lab would find funny," Mulder quipped, making Scully snigger.

"Yeah," she agreed, "except this time the punchline isn't so amusing." The pair lapsed into silence as they walked further.

"I can't help but think that the vaccine is the solution," Mulder thought aloud after a few minute's silence, "there's just something we're missing." Scully hummed in distracted agreement as they emerged into the beach and almost collided with a jogger. She tensed, ready to grab Mulder but to her delight she saw him swallow hard, nod to the young man and walk fast toward the house. She ran to catch up with him.

"I think you might be ready to move to Syracuse!" she beamed. Mulder looked nervous but his pride shone through.

"You're ready to risk me around your family?" he asked.

"I'll send Bill out to meet you first," she murmured, "he can be the guinea pig."

"Is he still being a jerk?" Mulder asked carefully.

"He's still ignoring me whenever I'm there, although to be honest sometimes I'm not so sure that's a bad thing," Scully grumbled, trying to make them both smile. Mulder however could detect more than a hint of pain coming from her. His psychic abilities were only just beginning to manifest; he couldn't yet read Scully's thoughts but he could now clearly sense her emotions even when she tried to suppress them.

"Ok," he agreed, "let's gather our things together and move out tonight. I don't want to waste another minute."

It didn't take them long to gather their few remaining possessions. Scully had sent most of her things on ahead when the others had left so she and Mulder were able to gather the rest into a pair of backpacks which they slung over their shoulders before setting off towards Syracuse. The journey took most of six hours but the forests allowed for ample hunting of which they availed themselves. By the time they arrived at the house the sun had long set and only a few humans remained awake. Tara's eyes widened as Mulder walked through the door into the large, open room that dominated the ground floor.

"Mulder!" she exclaimed, dropping her book and rising from an armchair to greet him and Scully at the door, "I'm so happy to see you here. Maggie's going to be thrilled when she sees you in the morning." Mulder was slightly taken aback by Tara's reaction and it must have shown on his face as she laughed a little. "I'm happy that you and Dana can be here together," she explained, "it's like the family is finally all together again."

"It's good to see you again too Tara," Mulder replied as his senses suddenly became acutely aware of the smells of the humans in the building. Scully felt her muscles flex almost involuntarily, readying her for action as her sixth sense picked up Mulder's anxiety. She focused her attention on him, feeling his emotions flow through her and realised he was controlling his impulses well.

"How about I show you our room?" Scully suggested feeling his desire to distance himself from the humans, "the house is sort of split down the middle, vampires on the right, humans on the left. Our room's up at the top."

"I need to get to bed," Tara agreed, stifling a yawn, "Matthew will be up at the crack of dawn and Bill refuses to let him out unsupervised with the vampires." She shot the pair of them an apologetic look. "I'll let him know you're here!" She grinned at Mulder before heading off up the large staircase that stood centrally in the room and branched off into two directions at the top. Mulder took a long look around the room noting the odd mixture of furnishings until he spotted Scully who was waiting halfway up the stairs. He followed her through a maze of corridors until they reached a dark wooden door, clearly the house was much larger than its frontal appearance suggested. Scully pushed on the door and walked into a large room which had a wall made almost entirely of glass that overlooked the forest. Mulder spotted closets, a sound system surrounded by CDs and records, a large desk covered in papers and photographs, and an even larger four-poster bed with cream blankets, comforters and pillows almost completely obscuring it. The bed gave the impression of being from a catalogue and had clearly not been used.

"Nice place," Mulder mused, wandering around and trying to take everything in. His eyes scanned the enormous piles of music that surrounded the stereo and he realised that in the few seconds his eyes had lingered on them he had taken in and memorised every title.

"Nicer now I'm not alone up here," Scully added, moving herself over to the desk and quickly looking over the stacks of papers. She picked one up and read it in a few seconds, the latest notes from Harrison and Suzanne that depressingly discussed no new results. She dropped it with a defeated sigh and turned to spot Mulder sitting on the edge of the bed testing the springs.

"This is a comfy bed," he hold her, collapsing backwards onto it which created a cascade of pillows onto the surrounding floor, "shame we don't need to sleep."

"I'm sure we can figure out something else to do with it," Scully murmured, not daring to take a step forward. Mulder's head popped up from his prone position and he cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Why Miss Scully you're insatiable," he replied in a low voice that rumbled across the room and vibrated through Scully's chest. "It's only been ten hours and your mother is asleep in the house." Scully smiled at him from across the room, grateful she was no longer able to blush.

"That's never stopped me before," she replied coolly.

Mulder pulled himself into a slightly more upright position and with one hand knocked another few pillows to the floor as he smoothed out a few wrinkles from the comforter and patted it enticingly. "C'mere Scully," he half-whispered. She sashayed forward, keeping her eyes on his as she approached him needlessly slowly, her smile growing wider as she tried and failed to keep herself from giggling. She had never quite managed to work the smouldering temptress angle in the bedroom, every time she tried she would end up dissolved into a fit of giggles. It only took a few steps before she stood at the foot of the bed between Mulder's knees. In a move so fast even she struggled to see it Mulder reached up and grabbed her, pulling her down onto the bed and twisting so he had was knelt on top of her, straddling her hips with his knees. She gasped and he grinned, reaching down and beginning to rapidly undo the buttons on her shirt. Just as her brain began to catch up with his actions, the door flew open to reveal Gideon and Harrison.

"Mulder!" they called out in unison before both of them registered the sight in front of them.

"Oh crap," Harrison exclaimed as Scully shrieked and yanked the two sides of her shirt back together whilst simultaneously attempting to sit up and assume a more dignified position, succeeding only in rocking her hips against Mulder who didn't budge an inch leaving her feeling even more annoyed.

"Haven't you two ever heard of knocking?" she hissed as she fell back onto the bed.

"Sorry," Gideon apologised as he failed to conceal a smirk, "guess I wasn't paying enough attention to your thoughts."

"Clearly..." Scully muttered as she re-fastened her shirt, "let me up Mulder."

"It's ok," Harrison grinned, as Mulder looked down at her and stayed resolutely in position, he was enjoying this far too much. "We'll leave you two to your evening," he added, shooting Mulder a wink.

"Good to see you," Gideon managed around his suppressed laugh and the two of them left the room. Scully heard them collapse into hysterics before they'd even managed to fully close the door. She looked up at Mulder who was displaying his irritatingly boyish grin.

"What's the matter Scully?" he asked, "they're both gay, they don't care about looking at you naked."

"Yeah, well I do," she replied crossly, trying to push him off and failing miserably. "Get off!" He considered her for a moment before shaking his head.

"Not a chance," he murmured softly, reaching down and practically ripping Scully's shirt off, sending a spray of buttons skittering across the room.

"Hey!" she shouted before Mulder's finger pressed down on her lips to silence her.

"Shhhhh," he cooed into her ear, making her entire body shudder as the air tickled her nerves, "now where were we?"

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><p><strong><em>Author Notes:<em>**

_So sorry about the long wait (again) life has just gotten a bit hectic over Christmas. I've asked my beta to start poking me with a big ol' pointy stick once my son goes back to school next week so I hope to get back to updating regularly again. For now I hope you've all had a very Merry Christmas (or whatever else you may have celebrated) and that 2014 brings you whatever it is you're hoping for. Oh and check out the song Homeward Bound by Simon & Garfunkle. It inspired the title of this chapter AND is a favourite of X-Files Season 10 writer Joe Harris! _


	36. I Am The Resurrection

A little over a week after Mulder's move to the new house, Scully walked nervously into the kitchen where her mother stood buttering slices of bread. In the six weeks since she had put Operation Contego into effect and moved her family to New York state, Maggie had taken charge of kitchen duty. She had inventoried what existed of the house's sparse kitchen and made a list of everything they would need to keep a group of nearly 100 people fed, from a toaster and silverware to a large fridge and frozen vegetables. The task had been made all the more difficult by the house being a vampire design and thus having no real kitchen facilities except a tiny fridge-freezer and small stove built in for the occasional human guest. The house had simply never been designed to accommodate this many human beings at once. Maggie had carefully planned menus for at least two weeks and created a list of ingredients before sending a number of Scully's friends to the local towns to buy everything. Scully knew exactly what her mother was up to because it was what she would be doing if she were in this position, keeping herself busy and trying to fill her mind with menial work so she could avoid the bigger questions that plagued her. The problem for Scully was that she really needed to talk about those bigger questions with her mother.

"Hey Mom," she ventured quietly, loitering by the door. Maggie looked up in surprise.

"Dana, I didn't expect to see you around here," Maggie said with a genuine smile that had the effect of relaxing her daughter somewhat.

"I," Scully hesitated, "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Oh?" Maggie replied buttering the next slice, "well what is it honey?"

"Have you prayed much since you got here?" Scully asked her quietly. Maggie stopped what she was doing and put the knife down, turning to look at her daughter.

"Of course," she answered honestly, "more than I have at any other time in my life I think."

"Has it brought you any clarity?" Scully asked.

"It's brought me understanding, and acceptance," Maggie said slowly, considering her answers carefully. "What is it that's concerning you Dana?"

"You know what I am," Scully said, her voice catching slightly, "I'm not sure that God hears me anymore because of what I've become. I'm not sure he listens to my prayers."

"God listens to all those who speak to him with an honest heart," Maggie replied kindly.

"You've studied your Bible," Scully replied, "you know what's written in there. 'You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off.'"

"Leviticus," Maggie sighed, "but remember what Father McCue always taught us Dana. The Bible is the word of God and because we cannot understand His plan it can often appear contradictory. Remember John's words: 'Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection.' Perhaps that's what you are meant for Dana."

"This happened so I can serve God?" Scully asked incredulously, "but I've killed people Mom. How can that be a part of God's plan?"

"Do you feel remorse for it?" Maggie asked her. Scully hesitated.

"Not as much as I should. I had to do it to stop more people from suffering and dying at their hands."

"Then have you asked forgiveness?" Maggie asked. Scully nodded.

"Every single day," she replied sadly. Maggie smiled.

"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," she told her daughter, "but He delights in mercy. He will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. Jesus died on the cross for our sins Dana," Maggie reminded her, "if you ask forgiveness, and mean it in your heart, God will forgive you. He would never forsake one who truly sought His mercy." She crossed the room and found her purse, digging around inside it until she pulled out a string of wooden rosary beads, the sky blue paint that once coated them now chipped and worn away. "Do you remember these?" she asked.

"Yes," Scully said with a smile as she took them from her mother, "it's the rosary my Sunday school teacher gave me before he died. My first ever one. I didn't know you kept it."

"I have all your first rosaries, and your father's too," Maggie told her with a sad smile, I keep them with me at all times so I can hold them and pray for each of you." She pulled out another set of beads made from dark wood, now shiny and smooth from decades of use. "How about we go out into the garden and pray together?" she asked, quickly putting her things away. Scully smiled and nodded, taking her mother's hand as they walked out through the large wooden door and out into the sunlight. As they crossed the grass to the edge of the tree line, Bill strode over and joined them. He seemed surprised to see the rosary in his sister's hand.

"Mom?" he asked curiously.

"Dana and I are going to sit and pray a while," Maggie told him, "will you join us?"

"I will," Tara called as she crossed from where Matthew and Luke were happily playing with Charlie. She smiled at Scully as she sat on the grass beside her. "I don't have a rosary though, we never really practised."

"You can borrow Melissa's if you like." Maggie offered, passing over the faded purple beads when Tara nodded. "Are you joining us Bill?" He swallowed.

"I think I'd better help Charlie actually," he mumbled, shooting a slight frown at his sister before muttering an apology to his mother who glared at her son's retreating form.

"He'll come around," Tara told Scully in what she hoped was a reassuring voice, "you know Bill, he has a very narrow view of the world and you've shattered that! He just needs time to re-adjust and accept your reasons for doing what you've done. It was the right thing to do Dana and Bill knows that, he just needs time to work through his pride and admit it."

"The amount of pride and stubbornness that boy has, I think it's him that needs to pray with us the most," Maggie sighed. Scully grinned and Tara laughed quietly. "Come on then," Maggie said with a smile, holding out her beads in front of her and waiting for her daughter and daughter-in-law to follow suit. After they did, Maggie began speaking quietly as her family followed her lead; "I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth..."

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><p><strong>Author notes:<strong>

This chapter is dedicated to BeshterAngelus, author of the wonderful Seasons series. If you haven't already read them then clear out your schedule for the year and get started. Seasons has explored Scully's faith in ways I had never seen before and my understanding of that side of her character is all the more complete for reading it. This chapter was written after reading some chapters that dealt with faith and I realised that my Scully would almost certainly be struggling with hers too. Not much else to say except that I've added Thea to the cast gallery in my profile, and the title of this one is both a Biblical reference and a song by The Stone Roses. Please let me know what you're enjoying (and what you're not) and I hope to keep updating more frequently now my son is back in school.


	37. I'm in a Wide Open Space

Although neither of them had dared to give voice to the thought, both Mulder and Scully had secretly hoped that their move to Syracuse would somehow be the catalyst that triggered the next step in their plan to thwart colonisation. Instead they remained floundering for weeks on end, unable to find any new way to effectively fight back against the plans they knew were unfolding against them. Christmas and New Years had passed with little fanfare aside from an attempt to make Matthew's third birthday as special as possible by throwing a party to cheer everyone up. The party had been an impressive success considering how difficult it was becoming to obtain anything above and beyond the necessities. It had also been the turning point for Bill who had finally accepted the vampires after Leyla and Tim, now strongly averse to killing humans out of anything but necessity, spent an entire night crafting an elaborate birthday cake in the shape of a train. However once the day passed and January arrived with a thick covering of snow, the general air of melancholy returned to the house and settled heavily over everyone.

The Apian Flu had now become fully global and only isolated pockets of civilisation remained unaffected. Edwin had taken to researching these areas to see if he could discover a reason why some places were developing significantly fewer cases of the debilitating illness. Bill Scully had offered his help, much to everyone's surprise, and had even managed to pull in some resources from the now threadbare US Navy. He, Charlie, Edwin, and Mordecai poured over them for hours every day to no avail. Scully, Harrison and Suzanne locked themselves in the laboratory they had built for most of every day thinking up ever more desperate experiments to perform on the black oil and attempting to decode the stolen vaccine samples. Byers and Frohike often joined them, helping to analyse the samples with increasingly complex computer simulations and offering what suggestions they could from their experience with branched DNA many years before. Mulder and Langly spent their days on the Internet following up any leads that looked interesting but so far nobody had made even the smallest step forward and morale in the house was dropping at an alarming rate.

Scully seemed particularly downhearted and would on occasion lapse into bouts of debilitating depression or terrifying angry outbursts. At first Mulder was scared by the intensity of her mood swings. She would seem fine for several days then suddenly lock herself in a room for hours or even days refusing to speak to anyone. Sometimes she would explode violently with almost no warning, often resulting in damage to any person or object that was nearby. She would scream about how pointless everything was and ask why they were even bothering to keep trying before storming off. She would generally return several hours later, eyes red from crying, and apologise to everyone before sitting down and throwing herself into the research. Harrison and Suzanne had learned to weather her temper and simply let the incidents wash over them but Mulder was feeling cracks in his relationship with her beginning to appear. She now avoided him often, knowing how good his ability to read her thoughts was becoming, and she spent most of her calmer moments working silently in the lab not wanting to be disturbed by anything unrelated to the work. As both February and March reached their ends with no progress besides the gradual melting of the snow, Mulder began to worry that if something didn't happen soon then he and Scully might never recover from the damage their partnership was suffering.

After a particularly vicious incident in which she had thrown a set of Petri dishes across the lab and forced Harrison to throw her out of the building for everyone's safety, Mulder had spoken to Mordecai about her moods.

"I don't know why she's so angry," he sighed as he helped sweep up the broken glass, "we're all feeling lost but she seems to be taking it harder than anyone and she won't talk to me about it."

"It's because she blames herself for El Rico," Mordecai explained patiently, "it was her plan and it went wrong. People died and it triggered the Apian Flu pandemic; she's eaten up by guilt because of it. I think she feels that if she could just crack this vaccine it would somehow make up for that. Everyone's waiting for her to announce the next move and that expectation is making her more and more frustrated that she can't figure it out."

"So she's taking it out on the lab equipment?" Mulder asked with a sad smirk as he spotted a set of indentations on the formica surface that matched Scully's fingers.

"Rather that than on the humans," Mordecai grinned, "although I wouldn't fancy the chances for any local wildlife right now." Mulder laughed a little and stared out through the window and into the forest where he knew Scully had disappeared.

"I'd better go and find her," he thought aloud as they finished up, hoping that she would speak to him. After putting the broom away he went outside and immediately sensed the trail she had left through the forest, following it easily. He found her in one of her favourite spots; halfway up a large tree, the branches of which had warped to create a deep bowl-like indentation into which she fit almost perfectly. The branch was high enough that from it miles of treetops were visible. Scully sat staring out over the horizon; knees drawn up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. Mulder couldn't tell if she was so lost in thought that she hadn't heard his approach or if she was just ignoring him.

"Feeling better?" he asked as he slowly climbed the tree, trying not to startle her. He noticed that all around her eyes was red, her makeup rubbed away and tear tracks still marked her cheeks.

"I'm fine Mulder," she began, looking down as she heard his derisive snort and sighing. "I was just thinking," she continued quietly.

"About what?" he asked, coming to settle close to her and wrapping an arm across her shoulders.

"About my meeting with Section Chief Blevins eight years ago; the day he assigned me to you. I was thinking about how I would have felt if someone had come along on that day and told me what the future would hold. That eight years from then I would be in love with the man they were assigning me to. That we would live together fighting a global conspiracy to stop aliens taking over the world..."

"That you would be a vampire?" Mulder added dryly. She actually laughed a little.

"I'm not sure what I would have had a harder time believing. That I would one day become a mythical creature or that I would fall in love with 'Spooky' Mulder." He scowled at her.

"You know I've been thinking too," he announced, deciding to try and make her laugh. Scully groaned slightly at his tone.

"Dare I ask what about?"

"Well we know for certain that one kind of mythical creature exists. I say that once we've cleared up this whole impending alien apocalypse thing we should go travelling and see if we can find a unicorn." Scully's eyebrow raised at him and she shook her head slightly, a small smile playing on her lips.

"If it's all the same with you I think I'd like to just relax if we ever manage to end this. Edwin's offered us his cabin in Washington, it's right by the ocean. I'd love to live by the sea again." Mulder took her hand in his.

"That sounds wonderful," he told her seriously before his sly grin re-appeared. "Anyway, we're immortal now. Plenty of time to hunt down those pesky unicorns in the future." Scully snorted a laugh and rose from her seat, jumping down from the tree to head back to the house. "OK maybe we can visit your Irish relatives and look for leprechauns while we're there instead?" he called after her as she walked away across the grass, shaking her head and smiling again.

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><p><strong>Author Notes:<strong>

Very little to say except thanks for continuing to read and review, it means a lot. Oh and the title for this is from a song by Mansun who are awesome, you should be listening to them. Thy lyrics to Wide Open Space seemed to sum up Scully's POV in this chapter pretty well.


	38. Breakthru

After Scully returned to the house the rest of the day passed by quietly. She apologised to Harrison, Suzanne and Byers who assured her that everything was ok between them and no real harm had been done. As the day had worn on Harrison decided to set out on one of his occasional long drives. During these he covered as much ground as he could on the off chance of bumping into someone or something which might yield valuable information. The rest of the country had long since moved into a war-like state with some cities largely abandoned as people fled into less populated areas trying to avoid coming into contact with flu carriers in the 48 hour period between contracting the virus and slipping into a coma. Countless temporary hospitals had been set up to deal with victims in an attempt to free up regular hospitals for other medical issues and stop the spread. Luckily those in comas seemed to require little except making sure their IV drips were changed; otherwise they may as well have been sleeping.

Mulder was surprised when Scully volunteered them both for one of the food runs to top up the house's dwindling supplies. She told him in the car that she wanted them to have some alone time and to feel productive for a few hours. She had even been somewhat flirty with him for the first time in several weeks. Much to his libido's disappointment Mulder had clamped down on his reaction to her not wanting to push too far, but he had enjoyed flirting back regardless. They soon returned to the house bearing sackfuls of canned and dried goods along with as much fresh produce as they could store. After watching the evening news they both settled in to read a book in an attempt to clear their minds and give themselves a much needed break.

It was approaching midnight and most of the humans in the house had already gone to bed when they heard the sound of a distant engine signalling Harrison's return as he parked the jeep in the hidden enclave at the end of a barely discernible dirt track several miles from the house. Mulder and Scully both continued reading until Mulder looked at the clock and realised fifteen minutes had passed.

"Harrison's taking a long time coming back up from the car," he commented, "I can do that run in only a minute or two."

"Maybe he went straight up to see Gideon," Scully replied without lifting her eyes from the page.

"No I'd have heard him come in," Mulder quibbled. He continued to stare at the clock in mild concern until he heard the front door being thrown open.

"Dana! Mulder! Everyone!" Harrison's voiced boomed from the hallway, "get down here, I've found something big." Mulder and Scully immediately dropped their books and found Harrison standing by the front door with six humans who bore the telltale signs of having walked up from the car. One of them seemed familiar to Mulder but he wasn't sure why.

"Phil?" Scully said curiously, addressing the familiar man before turning to Harrison, "what's going on?"

"I found myself over at One Eyed Jack's tonight," Harrison explained. Mulder suddenly remembered where he knew Phil from; he had been working the bar there the night he had visited with Scully. "When I got there I found these guys camping out and Phil here told me the most amazing story." Harrison continued, "I grabbed everyone I could and brought them here immediately. This could be it. The breakthrough we've been looking for and it's been right under our noses the whole time!" Harrison was practically bouncing on his feet as others appeared from around the house, curious about what was going on.

"These guys are soaking," Suzanne pointed out as soon as she saw the group of men huddled in the doorway, "how about we find them some dry clothes and food before we start quizzing them?" There was a murmur of agreement as Suzanne led the group into the main room and found them somewhere to sit. Some of the others vanished, re-appearing with dry clothes and hot food which were gratefully accepted. Harrison attempted to regain some composure, however as soon as Phil finished eating he encouraged him to speak.

"A couple of weeks ago a guy showed up at the bar," he began, "he seemed ok at the start of the night but it wasn't long before he started coughing his lungs up, this awful black stuff was on his hand and I realised he was infected. I shut him in the cellar but I knew I was infected by then and so were all my regulars who were in that night. We decided to quarantine ourselves there but only two people ever developed symptoms and went into comas. The rest of us just carried on and never got sick. We couldn't understand it at first but then we realised something about those two who got sick; they were my only regulars who never went in for the vampire bites." He stopped talking and the information slowly began to sink in to everyone.

"I have a crazy theory," Harrison told them all cautiously.

"So that's how that sounds coming out of somebody elses mouth," Mulder mused, earning him a sharp elbow to the ribs from Scully.

"We know that vampires are immune to the Black Oil right?" Harrison continued, his voice rising as he spoke, "well what if when we bite a human the venom in that bite leaves behind antibodies in their system in the same way that a vaccination works? And what if somehow those antibodies can then fight off the alien infection?"

"It would mean that anyone who has ever been bitten would be immune," Mulder carried on, picking up Harrison's train of thought along with his enthusiasm. "Perhaps we could fight colonization by simply biting more people."

"But there are over seven billion people on the planet," Scully reminded them warily, "how on Earth would we manage to bite even a fraction of them? Even if you could somehow convince every human being on the planet to line up somewhere in an orderly queue you're talking years to immunise everyone even with thousands of willing vampires working on it. Not to mention the fact that it completely blows the community's cover and as soon as the colonists figure out what we're up to they'll come after us."

"I think we're getting a little ahead of ourselves," Mordecai announced from the corner where he had been listening carefully to every aspect of the evening's conversation. "This is all still just a theory, and a very vague one at that. We need to test it by exposing someone we know has been exposed to our venom to the alien virus; preferably someone who has only been bitten once so we can determine if one bite is enough to trigger the reaction. If we're looking at years of ongoing exposure to venom then this isn't an especially practical solution." There was a pause and then Byers raised his hand.

"I'll volunteer."

"John?" Suzanne asked in a quiet voice, "are you sure?"

"From the moment I heard about vampire bites I always wanted to experience one but I never understood why," Byers told her before turning to look at everyone. "Maybe this is the reason? Maybe this is my destiny; to be the guinea pig."

"The group who stole the vaccine supplies from Fort Marlene also stole several vials of the Black Oil," Harrison told them all, trying to keep the obvious excitement out of his voice. "I can prepare to test this immediately if that's what you want."

"Wait," Suzanne told him, "can we do this in the morning? I want some time with John, just in case it doesn't work." She looked at Byers sadly and he smiled back at her, clearly trying to conceal his nerves. Everyone immediately agreed.

"That sounds fair," Mordecai agreed, "for now how about we find somewhere for these guys to sleep?"

"You go ahead, there's something I want to check," Harrison told them, heading for the lab.

"There's something I want to check too," Scully said, looking at Harrison with an expression that clearly asked his permission to re-enter the lab after the earlier incident. Harrison smiled at her and held out his arm in a welcoming gesture.

"Great minds think alike?" he postulated and the two of them made their way to the lab as Byers and Suzanne headed up to their bedroom together. Scully trailed a few steps behind as he led the way to the lab. She was already lost in thought as she contemplated Phil's words and the possible global implications. If it were indeed true that vampire venom could somehow prevent infection by the Black Oil then that could indeed be the solution they had been searching for all these months. However it still didn't solve the problem of distribution. For now though she had a new theory to consider, one that linked back to tests conducted decades ago, tests she had known about for months. Could she really have been so stupid as to miss this? As she arrived at the small laboratory she grabbed a lab coat from the rack and slung it over her clothes. She had a lot of work to get done and she didn't want to waste another second.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note:<strong>_

_OK guys this is it; I'm finally pushing to get this baby finished! I've got a ton of other fics I want to work on, some partially completed, but I want to wrap this story up with a nice big ribbon before I do. There's a lot to come but I'm hoping to update at least weekly now until the end to force myself to get it all out there. Thanks for sticking with it, I hope you all love what I've got planned! One last thing, the title is a song by Queen and it has an epic video with the band playing on the back of a speeding steam train. Go watch it._


	39. E Lucevan Le Stelle

The arrival of the One Eyed Jack's regulars changed the atmosphere of the house almost immediately. Not only did Phil's story imbue a sense of hope into everyone but the influx of fresh blood invigorated both humans and vampires alike. The humans were simply happy to see new faces and hear something of the world outside their self-imposed bubble from people who had, until recently, been living there. The vampires were also curious but mostly they were excited about the prospect of feeding on human blood for the first time in weeks. Since moving to Syracuse the vampires had been forced to survive solely on animal blood. Although they could not be infected by the virus it was less certain whether or not they could act as carriers. As a precaution Edwin had enforced a rule that any vampires living at the house were to stay away from human populated areas. They had all compiled, some more willingly than others, and only ventured into the outskirts of nearby towns on supply runs. Only around 20 of the original El Rico group had stayed in Syracuse, partly because so many vampires feeding off the animals in one area would quickly destroy their populations. To combat that effect Scully's original army had separated into smaller groups spread out over much of the northern part of the country and into Canada, all of whom were waiting on her word to move out.

Mulder had never understood the difference between feeding on human or animal blood as he had lived solely on the latter since his transformation but meeting up with Scully a few hours after the arrival of the new humans he immediately sensed the change in her.

"What is it?" he asked as she walked into their room early the next morning, practically bouncing on her heels.

"Just the possibility of a good feed for the first time in weeks," she explained, barely concealing the craving in her voice, "I've been feeling increasingly sluggish for a while now." Mulder stared at her. Just hours ago he'd seen her run through the forest at almost 50 miles an hour, changing direction to take down a deer she had scented without needing to slow down even a fraction as she planned her attack. If that was her feeling sluggish he wasn't sure he could handle her at full strength.

"You know you could have fed at any time? Byers would have let you," he told her.

"That wouldn't have been fair to the others," she replied as they made their way downstairs and into the lab, "Byers couldn't allow more than one of us to feed off him. Harrison's taken the Jeep to get the rest of the Jack's regulars so that'll make a dozen willing volunteers."

"Enough for everyone," he reflected cautiously. Scully smiled and he noticed how much life there seemed to be in her eyes. The last few months had drained her almost completely and he had found it increasingly difficult to make her laugh or smile. He'd also noticed the way she had tried to avoid being alone in their bedroom with him so he wouldn't try anything, although he'd been polite enough to pretend he hadn't realised. This last week saw her at her worst. Mulder had been reminded of her final weeks of cancer and the aftermath of Emily's death. At those times she had seemed so lost and defeated that she had existed as little more than a zombie, simply going through the motions each day, but eventually she had fought back and won the battle against her own mind with the help of her family and her faith. This time however Bill had been shutting her out and Mulder knew from speaking to Maggie that Scully's faith was in something of a crisis mode. He had begun to wonder if she would ever find her way back from the darkness that had descended over her, but as he saw the light sparkling in her eyes now he knew she had once again found the path that would lead her back to him.

"So what were you and Harrison up to in the lab all night?" he asked.

"We both had the same idea to take a look at our venom and do an analysis. The results are pretty fascinating actually," she explained, taking a plastic seat beside him near one of the lab counters. "We found a number of similarities between it and the vaccine, there's some protein chains that don't exist in nature that are present in both. It's enough of a coincidence that we're beginning to suspect that the experiments Charlotte and Lawrence were subjected to in the 70s were actually related to the vaccine development. Charlotte told me months ago that they took numerous venom samples from each of them at the time. If the Syndicate had made the connection about vampires having immunity to the Black Oil then perhaps they were trying to synthesise something. A vaccine developed from it with the same ability to immunise someone from the virus but without the risks of using actual venom. Perhaps the vaccine we have now was developed from those original venom samples in the same way that the current spy planes are developed from the Roswell wreckage." She paused from her enthusiastic explanation when she noticed Mulder's grin. "What?"

"Just listening to you talking about aliens and Roswell as casually as if you were talking about baking a cake. I suppose it's kind of funny," he gave her an apologetic smile but she smiled back.

"Mulder a couple of months ago I was in the middle of a battle with a ship full of aliens. It would be pretty ludicrous of me to not believe in them after that."

"I wouldn't have put it past you," Mulder retorted, ducking to avoid her hand when she swatted at him.

As he laughed the doors to the room opened and Byers entered with Suzanne. Mulder immediately noticed that they were holding hands tightly; so tightly in fact that Suzanne's knuckles had turned white.

"We're ready to start," Byers announced.

"You know you don't have to do this?" Scully reminded him gently, looking pointedly at where Suzanne gripped his hand. "No one expects this of you."

"I know," Byers replied, "but I also know it's the right thing to do. If we're right about this then countless lives could be saved. How could I walk away from that?"

"I'm proud of you," Suzanne whispered quietly and Mulder watched Byers squeeze her hand tightly. He had never really considered the relationship between Byers and Suzanne but now he came to think about it, it was fairly unusual. The pair had spent so little time together but almost instantly had seen in each other what it had taken he and Scully years to understand. Byers was, underneath his suits and professional demeanor, a deeply sensitive man and Mulder was delighted that his friend had found someone to share that side of himself with. It hurt him deeply to think that after this experiment he might lose one of his oldest and closest friends, not to mention the devastation and loss of hope both Suzanne and Scully would suffer. He dreaded the way Scully in particular might react if the experiment failed and she found herself responsible for his death. However he also knew that Byers was a practical and deeply patriotic man with a strong sense of moral duty. There would be no talking him out of anything he believed could save so many lives. As he thought about it and found himself beginning to worry about Scully's possible reaction to a failure, Harrison walked in followed by Frohike and Langly who both looked equally nervous.

"Are we ready?" Harrison asked quietly.

"Yes," Byers replied firmly. He turned to Suzanne and hugged her, whispering something so quietly in her ear that even the vampires' hearing would have struggled to make it out; instead they all made a point of not listening in order to give them couple some final privacy. As Byers drew away both Mulder and Scully noticed that his eyes were wet. Mulder ignored it but Scully walked over and took his hand briefly, her eyes also starting to glisten.

"I'll be right beside you the whole time," she assured him. Mulder heard Suzanne choke back a sob so he moved to stand beside her without saying a word. She grabbed his forearm, unphased by his cool, hard skin as she always had been, and clung onto him for support. They watched Harrison lead Byers to a large dentist-style chair that had appeared from somewhere overnight and Mulder wondered if Suzanne suspected how much he too was worried about the next few minutes. While she could lose Byers, Mulder suspected that the crushing blow Scully would face if this went wrong could push her beyond anything he could possibly salvage. The thought terrified him and he felt himself grateful for the pressure of Suzanne's fingers on his arm, grounding him to reality and stopping his thoughts from consuming him entirely. From across the room Scully turned from Byers and frowned at him slightly, clearly picking up on the timbre of his thoughts. He shook his head fractionally and she turned back to her patient who was sitting in the large black chair looking deceptively small and fragile. His fingers, now digging deeply into the leather, were the only indication of his discomfort.

"I've collected a sample of the Black Oil," Harrison was explaining as he indicated a syringe lying inside a sealed container. The content of the syringe appeared to shift and flow as Scully watched it and she felt herself shiver. "We're going to inject the oil directly at the base of your neck," he continued, "obviously that's not how someone would normally be infected but we want to control the oil as much as possible considering the number of humans nearby." Byers nodded but stayed silent.

"Do you want us to start?" Scully asked. Byers looked at Suzanne whose fingers squeezed harder on Mulder's arm as she nodded at him.

"Yes," Byers answered firmly. Scully looked up at Harrison who moved to the container which held the oil and pried off the lid. The fluid in the syringe seemed to twitch as he lifted it out of the box and carried it over to Byers who had turned away. Scully crouched beside him and offered her hand again. He hesitated for a short moment trying to be brave.

"You're the bravest person I know," she told him quietly. He smiled weakly and took her hand. Harrison stepped beside Byers who bent his head forward. He prepared the syringe, closed his eyes for a brief moment and leaned down. Mulder noticed Scully's mouth moving silently in prayer.

"Just a little prick," Byers said to Scully in an obvious attempt to lessen his own tension. She just looked confused as Suzanne managed a weak tearful laugh from across the room. Harrison swabbed the back of Byers' neck with alcohol, found his spot and carefully pushed the syringe through the skin, emptying it completely. Byers' hand squeezed Scully's tightly and Suzanne finally gave in to sobs as she turned away, unable to watch anymore. For several agonizing seconds nothing happened. Then Byers spasmed wildly. His back arched and his eyes rolled backwards as his skin appeared to ripple.

"Get her out of here," Mulder barked at Langly who was looking violently nauseous himself, passing Suzanne's hand across to his. As he turned back he saw that Frohike had stepped forward and was now stood beside Scully.

"Get back," she warned him as Byers convulsed violently, "we don't know how he's going to react."

"He's my friend," Frohike replied without looking at her, "we've been through too much together, I'm not leaving him now." As they watched, a cloud of blackness swam over Byers' eyes obscuring them entirely. Scully stayed perfectly still never once letting go of his hand but Mulder could feel the waves of terror flowing away from her. Along with them was the urge to panic and flee the seemingly inevitable consequences they had set in motion. The emotions seemed to dominate her thoughts.

Terrified himself Mulder began chanting in his head, "He's going to be OK. He's going to be OK," over and over, trying to will his belief to cross the room and reach Scully. To his surprise her screaming thoughts quieted and she turned to look at him, staring in bewilderment.

"Look!" Harrison said, pulling their attention back to Byers. His eyes had cleared and as they all watched the black oil began to ooze from his nose, ears, and the corners of his eyes; rapidly pooling on the floor and beginning to head for Frohike. Scully dropped Byers' hand and shot up to standing, grabbing Frohike and forcing him at great speed to the far side of the room. Harrison grabbed the storage device they had stolen alongside the oil from Fort Marlene and used it to gather up the oil and return it to safe containment. The room went silent for a moment.

"Why Miss Scully, I had no idea you cared," Frohike cracked, trying to break the tension. When Mulder looked over he saw that Scully had Frohike pressed up against the door with her arms around him forming the most complete shield she could. She looked confused for a moment then embarrassment took over and she stepped away quickly. Something in the atmosphere snapped and they all started laughing hysterically.

"What's funny?" a voice asked, silencing them instantly. Byers sat up in the chair looking around at them all. Scully immediately moved to his side and went into what Mulder had long ago termed her 'Doctor Mode'.

"How are you feeling?" she asked. "Is your vision blurry? Do you have any pain in your chest? Do you feel any tingling in your fingertips?"

"Give him chance to answer Scully," Mulder interrupted gently.

"Sorry," she almost giggled; smiling widely at Byers.

"I feel good," Byers replied with a smile, stretching and wiggling his fingers as Scully flitted around him shining lights in his eyes, checking his pulse and listening to his heartbeat, "really great honestly." Eventually she turned to the others.

"I'll need to run much more complete checks but right now I can't find any trace of the Black Oil or the alien virus," she told them excitedly before turning back to Byers, "it's as if your body just rejected it entirely so it left to find another host."

"Should I bring Suzanne back in?" Mulder asked.

"No," Scully replied, looking apologetically at Byers. "I want to keep Byers isolated until I've run a complete blood work, just in case the virus is lying dormant. I don't want to put anyone at risk unnecessarily." Mulder nodded.

"We should go and tell her what's happening," he said to Frohike who nodded in agreement.

"Chin up dude," Frohike said, doffing an imaginary hat to Byers and Scully, "your kung fu is clearly in sublime form." He turned to leave the room with Mulder and the pair walked out together to spread some much needed good news.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note:<strong>_

_Thanks for all the feedback this week guys! It really helps to get me writing when I know that you're liking what I'm putting out there. The title of this chapter comes from an aria in the opera Tosca; it translates as "And the stars were shining" but the meaning of the aria in context seemed particularly relevant to Byers at this point in time. I've posted the latest cast portrait on my Tumblr; this time it's Gideon and the link is in my profile as always. That's it for now, I'm off to obsess of my latest crackship - Scully/Castiel!_


	40. The Scientist

Scully stayed locked in the lab for the rest of the day running every test she could think of on Byers. She drew blood samples and ran as complete a set of the tests as she could on them, cobbling together equipment in the sparse room to manage a few more complex trials. She spent hours studying the samples through a high-powered microscope at every level of magnification. Byers' blood looked clean. The only thing she noted was that it was a little high in white blood cell count, no more than a flu shot would trigger but enough to attract her attention. Otherwise Byers was a picture of health. However Scully did detect a protein she didn't recognise which she immediately isolated and looked at in more detail. On a hunch she mixed a single drop of the Black Oil with the new protein and added the mixture to a slide before looking at it under the scope, the new protein had attached itself to the virus.

"Harrison," she called, "come take a look at this." Harrison crossed the lab and at her gesture seated himself and took a look down the scope. "There's a new protein in Byers' blood that's attaching itself to the virus cells," she explained, "I think you might have been right, it looks like there's an antibody in here that's working against the Black Oil."

"Can we be certain it came from our venom?" Harrison asked her, unwilling to get his hopes up.

"No," she replied,"we'd need to take samples from someone who'd never been bitten before. If we took samples before and after their first bite, ideally several times then we might be able to get a picture of what's going on here."

"Well can we do that?"

"If we can find a volunteer."

"I know who we can ask," Harrison grinned, disappearing before Scully had a chance to react. Byers, who was napping in a large chair across the room, opened one eye and looked at her.

"Any guesses who he's gonna talk into this?" he asked. Scully shook her head.

"If Mulder hadn't been turned already then there'd be no question," she said with a smirk. Byers snorted back a laugh and closed his eyes again. A few minutes later the door opened and Harrison returned with Frohike in tow. Scully's eyebrows raised slightly.

"Frohike? You're volunteering?" she asked curiously. Despite his affinity with the vampires, Frohike had never expressed even the slightest interest in being bitten, always avoiding that part of the culture.

"If my friend here can risk his life to test out this theory then this is the least I can do," he replied, sitting down on the dentists chair Byers had occupied earlier.

"I thought you might go and get Skinner," Scully told Harrison as she casually leant against a counter and watched him prepare a syringe ready to collect the first blood sample.

"Walter?" Harrison asked, "can't ask him can I?"

"Why not?" Scully asked, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

"We need someone who's never been bitten," Harrison replied as if the answer was painfully obvious, moving over to prep Frohike's arm as he did so.

"But…" Scully began, falling silent and pausing, "wait you're saying Skinner's been bitten?"

"You haven't noticed him and Thea?" Frohike asked her incredulously as Harrison drew the blood sample from his inner elbow and gave him some cotton wool to hold against the spot.

"No…" Scully replied slowly.

"Well let's just say he's been bitten frequently," Frohike told her with a wink. Scully stared at him until Harrison broke the silence.

"OK who's doing this?" he asked.

"If I'm going to submit myself to this then I'd at least like the lovely Miss Scully to do the honors," Frohike responded with a grin. Scully rolled her eyes at him as Byers sat up and shook his head at his friend.

"You're indefensible Frohike," he muttered. Frohike shrugged.

"Gotta get my perks where I can eh?"

"You don't change do you Frohike?" Scully asked with a smile. He grinned back at her as she walked over and sat on the edge of the chair beside him, flashing him a dangerous smile that hinted at both her darker side and the razor sharp points of her incisors. Frohike swallowed hard, suddenly wondering if this was really the best idea. "Keep an eye on me Harrison," Scully asked, "it's been awhile since I ate human." She winked at Frohike who smiled back at her before she raised his arm and bit softly into the skin inside his elbow. She heard Frohike gasp and sigh and noticed Byers watching proceedings with something akin to jealousy. It felt great to be drinking human blood again after so long. Unlike last time she felt fully in control with none of the overwhelming and controlling emotions that had accompanied the single time she tasted Mulder's blood. After a short while she pulled away and watched the two pin prick wounds heal almost instantly. She checked that Frohike, now mostly unconscious, was safe and comfortable before moving to sit on a stool beside Harrison.

"Good?" he asked, concealing his jealously almost perfectly.

"You have no idea," she replied with a slight smile. Already she could feel her strength and senses being restored, as if a heavy blanket was being lifted from her. She needed to get Mulder some fresh human blood so he could feel this way too. Harrison had crossed over to Frohike and was already drawing a second sample.

"Will anything be detectable so soon?" Byers asked. Harrison shrugged.

"I have no idea," he answered honestly, "but if it's not then that's useful data too. If we're going to try and use this method on a large population then knowing how quickly it becomes effective is vital." He sat at a workbench beside Scully, placing a drop of Frohike's blood onto a slide, slipping it under the microscope and offering it to her. She took a look and immediately saw that none of the strange proteins were present. The result didn't surprise her.

"There's nothing here yet," she told them, "but a normal vaccine takes up to two weeks to become fully activated and it's only been five minutes. My suggestion would be to repeat this every four hours or so because we don't have any idea how it's going to act." Harrison agreed with her and she turned toward Byers.

"I've run every test I can think of and I can't find any trace of the virus left in your system," she told him, "I see no reason to keep you quarantined here any longer." He sighed heavily and stood up, stretching out and looking at Frohike.

"How long until he's back to normal?"

"He'll be fine within the hour," she assured him, "go find Suzanne and if you spot Mulder tell him I want him will you?" Byers nodded and thanked her before heading through the door and back into the house. It was only a few minutes before the door swung open again and Mulder sauntered in.

"Byers said you want me," he enquired, waggling his eyebrows suggestively at her. She rolled her eyes at him, ignoring Harrison's snorts of amusement from the other side of the room and indicated the seat beside her.

"I wanted to talk about earlier," she told him, noticing Harrison subtly slip out of the door. Mulder's expression told her that he wasn't entirely sure what she was talking about so she continued. "When Byers was given the virus and I felt like I was losing control; I felt you in my head. I couldn't hear words, it was just your presence and I suddenly felt like I knew Byers would be OK. It was so powerful; this sense of belief just hit me and I couldn't resist, I had to obey the thoughts." She stared at him. "How did you do that?"

"I don't know," Mulder replied honestly, "I just started repeating in my head that he'd be ok and trying to will you to believe it."

"Try it again," she urged, "try and make me believe something."

"OK," he said hesitantly. He brought a thought to mind and tried to push the idea across toward her but nothing seemed to happen. After a few minutes he sighed and gave up. "Anything?"

"No, I didn't feel anything," she answered. "What were you trying to suggest to me?"

"I was trying to make you believe in unicorns," he told her sheepishly making her laugh. "Maybe it only works in tense moments when emotions are high?"

"Maybe," Scully mused as she looked over to Frohike and saw him starting to stir. She rose and moved to stand beside him.

"Anything?" he asked drowsily.

"Not yet but we're going to keep testing," she replied with a smile before checking a clock, "can you come back down at 12?" Frohike nodded and stood up somewhat wobbly, taking a few steps to regain his balance.

"I'll walk you up," Mulder said, crossing to stand beside him and silently offer support. "Come on Scully, take a break," he suggested reaching his hand out to her. Scully looked around the lab, pursed her lips and moved to accept it. There was nothing more she could do for a few hours so she may as well try and relax.


	41. Come Together

Scully checked Frohike's blood every four hours for the rest of the day and on into the night. On his first return to the lab she inserted a cannula to ease the process, wrapping it with a bandage between sessions to minimise the inconvenience. Frohike seemed to enjoy having his arm bandaged; Scully soon found him showing it off to Thea's sister Jodi in an attempt to impress her. As night drew in, Scully got his permission to take the sample at 4am without waking him.

"You're welcome to creep into my bedroom any night," he'd told her with a wink and a grin. The process had gone flawlessly until Bill, accustomed to waking early, had caught her sneaking out of Frohike's bedroom in the middle of the night. Scully had returned to Mulder who sat waiting in the lab with a highly put out expression on her face.

"I don't know what's worse," she moaned as she prepared the latest sample, "Bill thinking I'm creeping into people's rooms at night to feed, or thinking I'm secretly sleeping with Frohike!" Mulder had wisely stayed silent on the matter.

For the first 48 hours Frohike's blood showed no change but late at night on the third day Scully spotted the first of the new antibodies. Throughout the day the number swelled until by evening it rivalled the number Scully had seen in Byers' blood. She introduced a drop of black oil to the latest sample and noted the same result as the antibodies latched into the virus cells.

"Repeatable results," she sighed happily to herself as she sat alone hunched over the microscope, "the cornerstone of science." She felt light and happy. There were still more questions to answer but for now she felt like there was hope once again. She jumped up and focused on Mulder, sensing him in the main living room. She went looking and found him sprawled on a couch watching an old black and white movie. He turned to watch her as she entered and crossed to flop down beside him. Silently they watched the movie together for a few minutes.

"Happy with tonight's progress?" He asked eventually. She nodded without looking away from the screen.

"Yeah but I don't wanna think about that, I need a break," she told him.

"I was thinking of going out hunting," Mulder mused as the credits began to roll on the film, "sound good?"

"Mmmmm," she sighed, stretching out her arms, "I could use a good run." Mulder jumped up from the couch and eyed the open door that led out into the forest.

"Bet you can't catch me," he waggled his eyebrows and shot out into the darkness before Scully even got to her feet. She laughed and ran out into the dark following him. The blackness of the forest didn't slow her down even a little; her night vision was better than her human vision had been in daylight. The night was clear and the air was crisp. She ran as fast as she could, leaping between trees and down the river, letting the water splash up into her face and enjoying the feel of it on her skin. Reaching an area of especially dense trees she launched herself up and ran by springing her feet from trunk to trunk almost 30ft above the ground. It was a trick she'd been perfecting over the past few weeks when she had escaped into the forest during times she felt angry or miserable. It was difficult enough to require her full concentration as one misstep meant plummeting to the ground, something she had found out to her cost several times. At the time she had welcomed the pain. Tonight however she was simply enjoying herself, launching from tree to tree as fast as she could until the forest became a blur around her. She felt like the ball inside a pinball machine.

"That's just showing off," Mulder's voice drawled from somewhere nearby. The sound startled her and she missed her footing, dropping to the ground with a little more force than she intended.

"Ungh," she groaned as she lay on her back staring up at the stars. The impact had knocked the air from her lungs which felt strange and uncomfortable even though she didn't require it anymore. She gulped some down as a thud sounded beside her and Mulder crouched into view looking at her in concern.

"You OK?" he asked.

"Sure," she replied as she sat up, "it'd take more than that to slow me down." She reached over and closed her hand around his forearm. "Caught you," she winked.

"Cheater," he muttered, making her laugh. She sighed happily and relaxed back onto the ground which was much softer when not hitting it at speed. She closed her eyes and tasted the air, silently hunting for something worth tracking. After a moment a breeze blew across and she sensed something faint but delicious that made her throat itch. Looking across at Mulder she saw him lick his lips & guessed he had picked up on the same scent. Without needing to speak she rose to her feet and began running, feeling the reassuring sensation of Mulder at her side. As they closed in on the source of the smell Scully decided to test out Mulder's budding psychic skills. She silently suggested that they should split up and attack from opposite directions before peeling off to the right. Mulder immediately peeled left and vanished from view. She slowed imperceptibly as she found a good tree and scaled it with ease, settling on a branch that overlooked the path her prey was following. Scully couldn't see him but she knew Mulder was directly ahead of her. Mulder preferred to attack from ground level so she guessed he had probably taken a spot in the low clumps of bushes she could see in the distance. As she took stock of her surroundings she spotted the two cougars moving quietly through the underbrush. The smell of their blood reached her nose more strongly and made her mouth water; she hadn't realised how hungry she was but here with the scent of blood in the air she found she was ravenous. She crept out a little further on the branch, knowing exactly how far out it would support her weight. The cougars' path took them almost directly beneath her so she crouched and waited silently. In the distance a few branches shifted, barely noticeable, but Scully knew that it was Mulder moving in. She counted off the seconds until the cougars were perfectly positioned and she finally pushed off from the branch, silently arcing through the air in a perfectly controlled fall that ended precisely on the left shoulder of the animal closest to her, knocking it to the ground. The second cougar roared and rose on his hind legs to attack her just as Mulder shot in and knocked him sideways to the ground. Scully hadn't even paid any attention to the second animal, instinctively knowing Mulder would protect her from it without any need to cry out. Instead she had focused on pinning the female cougar to the ground and incapacitating her as swiftly as possible with a shot of venom straight to the throat. The creature roared once for half a second before falling silent as she fell into unconsciousness. Nearby she heard a similar cry from the other animal as Mulder mimicked her attack. Not every vampire took down prey in the same manner but Mulder had learned from her and hadn't changed anything except his angle of attack, utilising his brute force over her agility. Now both cougars were out there was no hurry to drink but Scully's senses told her everything was fine and she focused on feeding. The cougar's blood wasn't as good as the human blood she had drunk a few days ago but it certainly did the job.

After draining the animal entirely she stood up and shook herself off, brushing the leaves and dirt from her clothes. Her hair was a mess. She wanted to cut it but Mulder loved it in her new long, curly style and she liked the feel of him playing with it as they lay together, winding it in coils around his fingers or gently tugging it to pull her attention to him. Mulder stood beside her, his eyes shone and Scully could see the bright red of his irises reflected in the moon light. He stared at her, his top lip lifting in a playful growl. She mimicked him then shot off in the opposite direction as fast as she could. Behind her she could hear the sound of branches snapping and leaves being ripped from their branches as he passed; Mulder in this mood was anything but stealthy. She couldn't outrun him forever, nor did she want to, but he wouldn't catch her that easily. Feeling him closing in on her Scully grinned and tried to put on an extra spurt of speed. Through a gap ahead she saw an especially large tree with a thick trunk. Rather than aiming to the side of it Scully ran straight at the tree, leaping up when she was around twenty feet from it. She planted both feet on the trunk and ricocheted off it back the way she had come, knowing Mulder would never anticipate that move and would overshoot the tree. What Scully had herself failed to foresee was that Mulder's psychic skills had improved far more than he had let on. Knowing what she had planned Mulder had slowed slightly just in front of the tree and as Scully swept overhead he simply launched himself straight up and met her in midair, pulling her down to the ground with him. She yelped as they landed and Mulder's hand closed around her wrist.

"Caught you," he growled.

"How the hell…" she began but he silenced her with a kiss, rapidly attacking her clothing before she had a chance to complain about it. Two of the buttons on her shirt pinged off. She grunted in annoyance against his lips but he carried on regardless, knowing that once he got her shirt off she would no longer care about lost buttons in the undergrowth. She pulled back as he undid the last one and started tugging her shirt off, forcing himself to be gentle so as not to tear it. "Can't we do this in a proper bed?" she muttered. Mulder dropped her shirt to the ground and wound his hand into her hair, gently pushing her down into the ground beneath him.

"Hmmm, no," he breathed over her, disentangling a hand and sliding it down over her bare stomach. She groaned.

"Yeah, grass is good," she agreed distractedly as he reached the waistband of her jeans and began sliding down the zipper. Mulder grinned.

"Don't worry," he cooed into her ear, "you'll forget all about where you are in a few minutes." She hummed and Mulder sighed happily, he had his Scully back again.


	42. With a Little Help from My Friends

Two weeks later Edwin led Scully through the streets of New York City. She was shocked at how quiet it was. Although in almost any other city the streets would be considered busy, for New York it was practically deserted with many residents having long since escaped to less crowded parts of the country. Only the poorer parts of the city remained crowded; those areas occupied by people with nowhere else to go. The pair walked at a human pace until they reached an unimpressive building; "General Mutual Insurance" engraved in faded letters above the door. Edwin held the door and Scully walked into the air conditioned lobby that looked like a thousand others in the city. He nodded at the receptionist who smiled at them both and indicated that they should go up; Scully instantly recognised that the girl was a vampire. They rode the elevator to the forty-second floor in silence; Scully felt nervous but Edwin seemed entirely at ease. After just a few moments the doors slid open and a second lobby was revealed, this one distinctly more elegant that the one at street level.

"Don't worry," Edwin told her as they took seats on a cream leather sofa, "I know these people and they're not out to get you." Scully smiled tightly.

"I just don't hold much faith in these shadow groups," she explained.

"I can understand that," Edwin nodded, "but they're nothing like the men you worked against. The community leaders are simply a group of very well-respected vampires who have a lot of contacts around the world. If we're going to move ahead with your plan then we need their help." He rubbed her arm reassuringly, "trust me." She nodded and smiled a little more as a dark wooden door opened and an attractive middle aged woman with short brown hair appeared.

"Hello Edwin, Dana," she smiled warmly, "come on in." Edwin led Scully to the door and ushered her inside. She entered the room and found herself facing a large, circular wooden table surrounded by thirty vampires of varying apparent ages. The group was a mixture of men and women and of almost every skin tone and hair colour under the sun. A young man of seemingly middle-eastern descent stood and pulled out the seat beside him, offering it to Scully who sat nervously as the young man and Edwin took the seats either side of her.

"It's good to see you again Edwin," said a middle aged man in a suit from across the table, "and I'm delighted to finally meet you Miss Scully, we've heard a lot about you." Scully smiled, unsure how to respond. The meeting reminded her of the countless times she had been forced to sit in front of OPR and the Bureau directors to explain her actions or, more often, to defend Mulder's latest hair-brained scheme that had gotten him into hot water with those higher in the chain-of-command. The meetings always left her feeling tiny and wanting nothing more than to simply sink into her chair and out of view. Today was different. She wasn't here to defend herself but simply to explain her findings to a group of people who could help. Although she couldn't shake the feeling of discomfort the setting inspired in her.

"Dana, why don't you explain the latest discoveries you and Harrison have made?" Edwin was saying. She nodded and stood up, unnecessary she knew but standing above everyone else gave her a slight confidence boost.

"We recently came across a group of humans who had been exposed to the extraterrestrial virus but who had suffered no ill-effects," she began. Edwin had been keeping the group appraised of the alien virus for almost a year now so she felt confident that explaining more about the virus itself was unnecessary. "Tests I conducted personally showed a previously undiscovered protein in the blood of an individual who shared something in common with this group; previous experience with recreational vampire bites. Since then I have tested each member of the group who showed immunity and each of them exhibited the new protein in their blood. I also ran a study on a second individual who had not been exposed to our venom and found no evidence of this protein in a blood sample. Further blood samples were taken from this individual at four hour intervals after exposure to venom through a single bite. After 48 hours the protein began to appear, rapidly reaching the proportion seen in the other samples." Scully paused to check if her audience were keeping up. Every face at the table was listening intently and nodding their understanding. She took a breath and continued. "As a final test two days ago my partner and I visited an temporary Apian Flu hospital on the outskirts of Syracuse and bit one of the comatose patients." A few eyebrows raised around the table. "After a few moments the black oil containing the virus was expelled from their body and the patient woke up."

"So basically, the cure everyone is searching for, is us?" the lady who led them to the room asked cautiously.

"Simply put, yes," Edwin replied as Scully sat down.

"I thought that there was already a vaccine?" said another man.

"There is a mild vaccine however there is only very limited supplies of it, perhaps enough to cure around 50 individuals," Scully explained. "We have been unable to to recreate it and besides, it needs to be administered within 96 hours to be effective. We have evidence that suggests that this vaccine may have been developed from our venom, but that in removing some of the side effects the efficiency of the antibodies was reduced. Pure venom is far more effective and appears to have no time restriction. It also leaves the antibodies behind in the bloodstream to prevent re-infection."

"I believe our community needs to work together and act to stop this virus before it kills millions of innocent humans and unleashes a deadly unknown force upon the planet." Edwin told the room.

"I agree with you entirely Edwin but my concern is for our community," said the young middle eastern man beside Scully, speaking in what she identified as an Egyptian accent, "we have seen the proof of these so-called colonists and we know what they intend to do. Currently they seem content to simply ignore us but should they began to see us as a real threat then we know they will come down heavily on us. Just because they cannot kill us that does not mean they cannot destroy our lives in other ways. Exposure to the humans also carries risks. Our two communities have lived side-by-side secretly for thousands of years, sudden exposure is likely to damage everything we have worked to build."

"Failure to act now condemns us all Darwishi," Edwin replied calmly. "If the colonists are allowed to take control of the planet then we cannot predict the future."

"Let us take a step back," another man said in a heavy West-African accent. Scully looked to an older dark skinned man sitting across the table from her. "The current population of Earth is estimated at seven billion. Our best estimates on the vampire population place it at a little under one million worldwide, many of whom are out of regular contact with civilisation. You want to ask every vampire on the planet to bite one thousand humans?"

"No," Scully replied, "I have been experimenting with methods of venom extraction." A few of the faces around the table winced; it was well known that any method of removing venom without actually biting through flesh was deeply painful. "I believe I have found an approach that is pain free and easy for us to work with," she explained.

"Really?" the first speaker asked in surprise, "can you show us?" Many of the vampires at the table shifted forward curiously in their seats as Scully removed an evidence container from her bag.

"I decided to try a new approach," she explained, "rather than attempting to remove the venom directly from the gland which is the method that has been employed before, I tried to find a way to trick the body into releasing the venom as it would when biting through flesh." She placed the container on the table; it was a small plastic cylinder with a latex membrane stretched over the top. "This is the method used by snake handlers to extract venom from venemous snakes," she continued, "the snake is held and the fangs pushed through the latex which triggers the release of venom. Apparently it also works on us. It's a little undignified and takes some will power to make yourself effectively attack an inanimate object but it works and it is painless." She reached into her bag and pulled out a glass vial in which a faintly yellowish liquid slid around with the consistency of corn syrup. She looked at it briefly before passing it to Darwishi beside her. He raised the vial and stared in fascination at the liquid for several long seconds before passing it along the table. Slowly the vial made its way around. "This is the venom collected from a single vampire bite," she explained, "I have been testing this extraction method on myself for a little over a week and have found that I can produce around 500 milliliters of venom every eight hours; my partner Mulder, Edwin, and my lab partner Harrison all produced a similar amount. We have also tested the process of administering the venom as a traditional vaccine and we discovered that 100mls will produce the same quantity of antibody proteins in a human patient after 72 hours as biting them. That means we can inoculate five people using the venom from a single bite. The vampires living in our house alone can produce enough venom in 24 hours to inoculate 300 people!" Scully realised how fast she was talking and that her voice had taken on something of a fever pitch. She looked around to see the reaction of the others, feeling Edwin squeeze her knee underneath the table.

"If we could get the help of as many vampires as possible then using this method we could inoculate hundreds of thousands of people within just a few days," Edwin announced, "but we need your help. If the colonists discover that we have found a cure they will use any force necessary to try and stop us. I think we need to target those people already infected first. We believe that at some point a trigger will be activated and new colonists will begin to gestate inside the flu victims, this is likely to happen as soon as the colonists see us on the offensive so the more people are cured before gestation is triggered the better." The room fell silent and Scully could sense the leaders silently trying to decided which path to choose; risking exposure by helping the humans or letting the future choose its own course.

"Please," she added allowing desperation to creep into her voice, "we need your help." She felt a hand on her arm and turned to Darwishi who smiled and nodded slowly.

"I will help you ukhti," he told her, "I will travel to Egypt today and inform our high council."

"I will also help," the man with the African accent said.

"I will travel to London in the morning," a young woman in a black coat added. Soon every person at the table had volunteered to join their cause, each offering to speak to the local groups in their own areas and spread the word.

"We will keep in touch, Edwin akhii," Darwishi smiled as everyone stood and began milling around, "we must act as one if we are to maximise our effects."

"Agreed old friend," Edwin smiled at his old friend, "we shall strike together. Dana and I will return to our current home and spread the word from there." The two men shook hands and Darwishi turned to Scully, placing his hands on her upper arms and kissing her cheek.

"You are quite the woman," he smiled, "barely a year amongst our kind and already you have made discoveries that will be recorded and passed on to those new to us. I see you on this council not far in our future and I look forward to sitting beside you again." Scully felt slightly awkward.

"I'm not sure about that," she mumbled.

"Darwishi's predictions have an uncanny habit of coming true," Edwin smiled, "but I think we need to get home if my friend here can bare to let you go." Darwishi laughed.

"Go my friends, let us meet again in happier times," he bowed, "ma'a as-salaama."

"Allah yasalmak," Edwin bowed in reply. He turned to Scully, "ready to go?" She nodded and followed as Edwin led the way from the room and back to the elevator, the first step on the path back home.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author Notes:<strong>_

_The story is almost over in draft form, just a few chapters left to write! My wonderful beta reader Keva is doing an awesome job spotting issues and fixing dialogue. Still lots more to come for you guys though and hopefully this chapter has given you a glimpse of where we're going._


	43. When You Come Back I Won't Be Here

Mulder sat alone in a chair overlooking the darkening forest as night drew in; the view however was far from his mind. In his hand he held two photographs, some of the only items he had brought with him from his apartment when he embarked on this latest stage of his life. Even his fish had moved on; donated to little Sally Hendricks on the floor above. Mulder stared at the pictures, not noticing the rain that had begun to pour, gradually soaking into the carpet of the bedroom he shared with Scully. He heard the sound of the door creaking open and turned, hoping to see her enter but instead found himself facing Gideon.

"Sorry, they're not back yet," the older man apologised, "I saw you looking a little lost and thought it best to come up and close the window, I'm not sure Dana will appreciate her clothes suffering water damage." Gideon indicated the open window and the clothes rack beside it that had been drying Scully's things until the downpour began. Now the items on the side facing the window were wetter than when she had pulled them from the machine.

"Oh crap," Mulder hissed, dropping the photographs and darting across the room to drag the rack away from the window. He held up a shirt he knew was one of Scully's favourites, it was soaked through.

"Just stick it in the tumble dryer, she'll never know," Gideon told him with a smirk, bending to scoop up the photographs from the floor. He looked at them for a moment. "Great grandparents?" he asked.

"Oh, no," Mulder hesitated, "their names are Sullivan Biddle and Sarah Kavanaugh. They lived just outside Tennessee in the mid 1800s, Hamilton County. They were lovers until he died in battle there."

"I remember reading about that," Gideon mused, "I lived fairly locally at the time. I'd only been turned a few years before the Civil War began and I enlisted with the Union Army. It was time for me to move on and dying in battle was a nice, simple way to achieve it." He looked at the pictures again, "so what's your connection to these two?"

"A few years ago Scully and I were assigned to a case surrounding a religious cult, the Temple of The Seven Stars." Gideon nodded.

"Vernon Ephesian's church? Mass suicide? I remember it being all over the news for weeks. I had no idea you and Dana had been involved, was there a paranormal aspect that the media didn't report?" Mulder sighed and sat down, Gideon perching nearby on the end of the bed.

"One of Ephesian's wives, Melissa, appeared to have multiple personality disorder. It was her who tipped the Bureau off about Ephesian in the first place. When we brought her in for questioning I realised it wasn't multiple personalities, it was past lives manifesting subconsciously. Melissa and I both went through deep regression hypnosis and I came to learn that we had known each other in many lives before this one. We were soul mates, destined to meet over and over again only to be torn apart." He paused and stared out at the pouring rain. "Melissa died in Ephesian's compound the next day."

"You felt a deep connection to this woman?" Gideon asked.

"Yes, but I still don't understand it. If we are soul mates then how does that fit with Scully and I being together as vampires, presumably for all eternity? Does it mean that one day Melissa will be reincarnated again, become a vampire and I'll leave Scully? Because I refuse to believe that could ever happen." Gideon shook his head thoughtfully.

"I've researched many beliefs about life after death over the years and I've read a lot about reincarnation and the idea of past lives. It always seems to be that souls are reincarnated to learn something, that there is an eventual goal - a point at which the soul somehow becomes complete. The universe kept bringing you and Melissa together but then tearing you apart. Perhaps that's because you were never meant to be together? Maybe that's the lesson your soul had to learn, that Melissa wasn't who you were meant for, that it was Dana all along? Once you came to understand that then the cycle could stop. A bit like that old movie Groundhog Day, but instead of the same events playing out day after day it's the same souls coming together until the mistake is rectified."

"Einstein said that the definition of madness is to keep doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result," Mulder mused. "Melissa said that 'souls mate eternal' but maybe that's the point, it never happened. Our bodies may have mated but our souls never did."

"But yours and Dana's have. If there's a better definition of that statement than two vampires in love then I've yet to see it." Mulder looked back down at the photo.

"I wonder where Melissa's soul is now. Is she destined to live alone over and over again, unfulfilled?"

"I doubt that," Gideon replied, "perhaps now that you have left the picture she'll also be able to escape the cycle and find the person she was meant to be with." Mulder sighed again and put the pictures back in the desk drawer.

"I hope she does." The two met sat in silence for a few moments until they heard the door click and Scully appeared around it.

"Everything OK in here?" she asked in concern.

"Fine," Mulder assured her, standing to cross and hug her, "how did the meeting go, was everything alright in New York? I was worried about you."

"I know," Scully told him with a smile, "I'm fine, New York was just quiet. The meeting went well, they're going to help us. Some of Edwin's friends are going to travel out today and spread the word."

"What do we do?" Gideon asked.

"We need to get everyone together and work that out together," Scully decided. "Let's rally the troops." Gideon nodded and stood.

"I'm on it," he replied, heading out of the room and leaving Mulder and Scully to talk alone.


	44. A Practical Arrangement

"I think we should split up," Scully announced to the room. She hadn't even finished the sentence before Mulder and Langly groaned in unity

"Have you never seen a horror movie woman?" Mulder questioned as he leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms out behind his head, "that's the one thing you never say."

"This is not a horror movie Mulder," Scully sighed, fixing him with an unimpressed stare, "and you haven't even let me explain."

"OK let's hear it then," he invited with a smirk.

"Well, we've agreed that fast and widespread distribution of the vaccine is our priority right? And this is clearly the fastest way. We have an army of over 300 individuals at our disposal; if we divide up the country between them…"

"You're still looking at over twelve-thousand square miles per person," Mulder interrupted, doing the math rapidly in his head, "it's way too much for each…"

"No, you're factoring it wrong," Scully argued back, cutting him off. "The country isn't evenly populated, you're only looking at 30 or so major cities, barely 100 with a population over 200 thousand. People have evacuated out to the country where there's a lower infection rate. It's the cities we have to focus on, getting that vaccine into the hospitals. If Hicksville Montana doesn't get our attention for a while then that's unfortunate but what else can we do? We have to set priorities and focusing on population density seems the logical way to do that."

"I think Dana's right on this," Mordecai agreed from his usual corner. Everyone turned to face him as he spoke. "We have an incredible task ahead and severely limited resources. We need to be logical about how we move forward. We know that's Dana's strength, if this feels right to her then I'm inclined to agree."

"We should find out everyone's strengths and play to them," Scully added, "I know San Diego, Mulder knows Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and Harrison knows New York. It makes sense that we should go to the places we're most familiar with where possible, it will speed things up." As soon as she finished speaking she felt the waves of emotion hit her, most of them from where Mulder was sitting. Despite his still calm, almost cocky exterior, Scully could feel every nuance of his worry; and judging by the looks most of the people in the room were giving to their own partners he was not the only one worried by her suggestion. Splitting up as she had suggested would separate her from Mulder by almost three thousand miles and split up nearly every other couple at the same time, this during a time when they would all be in immense danger. She didn't like the idea any more than anyone else did but Scully trusted that she would be able to make them all see reason. Despite significant evidence to the contrary Mulder could usually be counted on to be rational; especially when lives were at stake. The room had fallen into silence and Scully guessed that everyone was already thinking about where they could be of most value to the plan.

"What can the humans do?" Byers asked to breach the silence, "we can't travel as fast as you can."

"Right now we need maps," Mordecai replied immediately, standing up and moving to the middle of the room as all eyes fixed upon him, respecting his experience. "The more up-to-date the better although getting accurate population estimates is going to be nigh on impossible. The more accurate we can be, the better equipped we can be to divide up duties."

"We're on it," Frohike replied, "I've got some ideas on where we could get you good numbers."

"Are there any weapons in the house?" Bill asked.

"No, why?" Scully answered.

"We know that guns are effective against the colonists," he explained, "if we could stock up on some weapons, Charlie and I could teach most of the adults here to shoot. Right now if one of those creatures was to walk in here and you guys weren't around we'd all be defenseless. At least if we're armed we have a chance at stopping one or at least slowing it up until one of you lot can help."

"I think that's a good idea," Scully told him. She looked at Tim and Leyla, "you guys feel like a supply run?"

"There's a sporting goods store in one of the nearby towns," Tim said, "we picked up some bits in there before. I remember a gun rack, mostly hunting rifles I think."

"Those would be perfect but we need ammo too, lots of it."

"Don't worry, we're on it," Leyla smiled as she grabbed Tim's arm. "Come on, let's go."

"Can I make one change to this plan?" Mulder asked quietly from behind Scully as Tim and Leyla made their way out. She looked over at him feeling slightly concerned but he silently let her know that he wasn't going to let his emotions cloud his judgement on this.

"OK," she agreed, "tell me."

"I think I should go to Atlanta instead of Rhode Island," he explained. Scully frowned at him until he continued, sitting forward in his chair and this time addressing Mordecai and the rest of the room. "Scully and I have been experimenting on what we believe might be my special power - an ability to make people believe me by somehow pushing my own strength of belief onto them. If we could use that ability on the top brass at the CDC, let them see our vaccine results, then we could get their help. It's not exactly the network it once was but there's still an infrastructure there that we could turn to our advantage." Scully let the new idea sink into the battle plan she had constructed in her mind and settle into position. She closed her eyes and watched the patterns change around this new piece of information, following the way they shifted with the arrival of these new variables. The changes felt positive and she opened her eyes.

"I think that's a good idea," she agreed, "one of my biggest concerns is actually getting these vaccines inside the hospitals without any real authority to back us up. I'm relying on the general lack of communication out there and the fact that these hospitals are being manned by skeleton crews who don't really know what they're doing. We show up looking and sounding confident enough then we should be able to get by with fake IDs but it's a big hole in the plan and I don't like it. Official CDC documentation would go a long way to plugging that gap." She looked at Mulder and smiled before turning to the Gunmen.

"How long before we can get those maps and figures?" she asked them.

"I think we can have something useful by morning," Frohike told her confidently, she nodded her acceptance.

"Then let's get to it," she told everyone. The room began to clear and she slumped down onto a chair and began to silently pray that this time around, the plan would work. It was mostly empty by the time she stood and turned around; finally noticing that Skinner had lagged behind. He was holding himself in a manner which screamed unease and waves of discomfort were rolling away from him and assaulting her new senses.

"Sir?" she asked, approaching him slowly.

"I think it's Walter these days," he replied with a clipped smile, "Skinner perhaps but it's been almost a year since 'Sir' was an appropriate salutation."

"It just feels insubordinate calling you anything else," Scully told him with a small smile. "What's wrong? Can you see a problem with the plans we've drawn up?"

"No, no, I just, have concerns about my role in them." Scully's brow furrowed and Skinner sighed, removing his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose. "There's something I haven't told you, and as you haven't broached the subject with me I'm guessing it's not something you'll be able to ease my mind about." He crossed the room suddenly with a force of movement that startled Scully. He took a seat on the edge of a chair, hunching his shoulders forward and staring hard at the floor as she lingered nearby. "When Krycek's body was... discovered, I took charge of the crime scene. I had the detectives there search the apartment for the remote, the one he used on me to control the nanobots." He heard Scully's intake of breath and knew it was something she had never considered. "They never found anything. I personally went back and tore that place apart; it wasn't there. That means that someone else has it; they have control of the nanobots and that means they have control of me."

"Sir…" Scully began but Skinner wasn't finished.

"I can't be sent out to deliver consignments of the vaccine, or to talk to agencies because I'm too easily compromised," he told her matter-of-factly. "Until I find a way to rid myself of these… things, I'm a liability." His tone was angry and Scully thought hard before saying anything to him.

"Have you made any progress on that front Sir?"

"No," he answered quickly, "although I have one possible route that I have yet to fully examine."

"What's stopping you?"

"Fear of the consequences," he replied honestly, looking up at Scully, "although I think I'm past that now. I've made deals with the devil before now and paid the price." She frowned but he shook his head and stood up. "I'm sick of being a pawn in their games," he told her, "and until these things are gone I'm stuck in that role." He took another deep breath and looked at her. "Is it OK with you if I take off for a while?" Scully nodded.

"Everyone is free to choose whether or not to be a part of this, and I agree, you need to solve this first."

"Can you spare Thea for a while?"

"Sure, we'll manage," Scully agreed. Skinner tried to muster up a smile but it fell short.

"We'll head out tonight then. I guess you'll have set off for San Diego before we're back. Good luck Dana." She smiled at him and watched as he made his way out of the room.

Skinner immediately walked toward the stairs and up to the small second floor he had called his own until very recently. In the last few weeks Thea had taken to occupying it almost as much as he did.

"Did she agree?" Thea asked him from where she lay sprawled on the bed.

"In theory," Skinner replied pausing in the doorway to fully appreciate the sight in front of him.

"You didn't actually ask her did you?" she smirked.

"Not in as many words no," Skinner replied, barely concealing a grin. Thea was the only person who could make him laugh these days, it was what had first attracted him to her. Well, perhaps if he was being really honest it was the second thing. "She agreed to us leaving to pursue a path that could lead to ridding me of the nanobots. However you say it, the end result is pretty much the same."

"She's gonna kill me when we get back," Thea told him, rising from the bed and shooting him a sly grin, "you know that right?"

"See that's where being dead already helps you out immensely," Skinner replied coolly.

"She can still cause me pain and a lot of it, remember that," Thea warned him. "Come on, let's go." She grabbed the rucksacks they had packed together earlier that day and the pair of them headed out of the room, down the stairs and away from the house without looking back.

**_Author's Notes:_**

_The title for this chapter is in homage to an awesome fanvid created by my beta reader gingerrawrrgers. Go watch it on YouTube right now! I'll try & post some more character portraits too so check my profile page soon for the links. Sorry for the slow updates, I'm majorly obsessed with Supernatural right now so my head is just full of gay angels and hunters rather than ex-FBI vampires!_


	45. The Clock Was Tickin'

The house was quiet. Over the last day the army of vampires had gradually left, each one taking a small share of the vaccine bottles Edwin had liberated on a supply run to Miller's Grove. Mulder knew that the density of research labs in the town would give them a good chance of finding a high number of the bottles per square mile, saving them valuable time. The vampires had been sent to every major city in the US and Canada. They would be slowed considerably by having to stop every eight hours to extract their venom but Scully knew that by now the first would have arrived at their destinations. Hopefully they would have settled in to wait for the specified time when they would distribute the vaccine across the hospitals. Most of the heavily populated cities were on the Eastern seaboard which made their location near Syracuse particularly beneficial as those vampires would have longer to sit, wait and build up more stocks.

The distribution date was set three days from now. Scully knew that she would be one of the last to leave the house yet she also had the farthest to travel as she was assigned to San Diego. All non-military flights were grounded and as she was unsure of the road situation, she had decided she would be faster running. Even factoring in stops for extraction and hunting, she knew she could do it in a little over two days providing she maintained her usual pace. It was by far the most she had ever run but she didn't get tired anymore and she had heard of other vampires, particularly those living in Russia and other remote areas, who had run much further. The three day delay would also allow the vampires working with them in other countries to take their positions.

Frohike and Byers had worked together and used an abandoned military grade secure channel to create a private cell phone network that would allow everyone to stay in contact until they began deployment. Edwin had contacted his friends in the council and they had taken the information abroad with them. Soon afterwards the first international communication had been received from London, vampires across the UK were already in position and awaiting the order to begin. No one was sure if the network would hold up once the colonists realised what was going on. Mordecai guessed that their first move would be to try and disable it but each vampire had instructions on what to do once they had visited every field hospital in their area. Around three hundred individuals had instructions to return to the house. Scully believed the colonists would focus any direct attack there first should they discover that their loved ones were hidden there.

Mulder walked into the bedroom he shared with Scully and found her hunched over the desk, intently reading some papers.

"Haven't you done enough?" he asked, slinging his backpack down. It tinkled slightly as the three hundred vaccine bottles he had been assigned jostled slightly inside. The only other supplies it held were two changes of clothes. Extra jeans and a t-shirt in case he got filthy on the run and one of his old suits for his eventual meeting at the CDC.

"I was just double checking the figures for the field hospitals in San Diego," she said, rubbing her eyes as she looked up at him with a weary smile, "I wanted to be sure I was taking the right number of bottles."

"Hey, listen, if you under-estimate there'll be drug stores you can raid on route," he told her, crossing to rub her arms. She leant against him heavily and closed her eyes.

"I know. I'm just finding things to worry about."

"You're very good at that," Mulder replied, making her laugh a little.

"Where's Mom?"

"Outside, Charlie was getting her to practice."

"Is she getting on any better with my SIG?"

"Yeah, I think the hunting rifles were just too damn big for her," Mulder laughed. Scully managed a small smile.

"At least the SIG will give her some protection, it saved me more times than I care to remember." She stood up and brushed past Mulder to check the contents of her backpack again. Hers was significantly larger than Mulder's to reflect her extra travel time.

"Come on," Mulder said, pulling her away from the bag and wrapping his arms around her.

"Mulder I should really get going," she told him with a warning tone," I have a long way to go."

"I know that Scully, and one extra hour's delay isn't really going to make all that much difference is it?"

"An hour? What else needs doing?" Mulder waggled his eyebrows and she groaned, closing her eyes for a moment and shaking her head before looking back up at him.

"You honestly think I'm going to let you go gallivanting off across the country without me before we've said goodbye properly?"

"This is how we say goodbye?" Scully asked somewhat incredulously.

"Hello, goodbye, happy Tuesday, I don't really give a rat's ass what we're saying, just how we're saying it."

"Mulder!"

"You know you want to Scully."

"What I really want right now is to get to San Diego on time so we can do this thing and save the world."

"Spoilsport," Mulder huffed, sitting down on the edge of the bed and pouting up at her. Scully sighed and tried to avoid looking at him but his sad eyes and hangdog expression pulled her in. She tipped her head to the side and glowered at him, sticking her bottom lip out.

"OK fine, but no more than one hour OK? I've gotta go." Mulder's face lit up and he sprung up to grab her and pull her down onto the bed with him, sending the rucksack of vaccine bottles tumbling to the floor. "Mulder!" she hissed.

"What? They'll be fine! I've seen you drop enough of the damn things, they bounce."

"They do not bounce," Scully protested, trying to squirm her way out of Mulder's grasp to check on the bag.

"Sure they do," he continued, using her movement to partially disrobe her, "now stop it and get over here, we've only got 59 minutes left and there's a lot I want to accomplish in that time." Scully sighed then squealed as Mulder began tickling her exposed side.

"OK OK," she giggled, "I'm all yours."

"Damn straight," Mulder growled.


	46. Love Will Tear Us Apart

"Are you leaving?" Maggie's voice wasn't accusatory, simply concerned.

"Yeah, I've got to make it to San Diego by Wednesday and I'm on foot," Scully answered quietly. She felt guilty, almost as if she was abandoning her family but she knew what needed to be done and they all knew it too.

"You can't at least wait until morning?"

"What difference would it make Mom? I don't sleep."

"Oh, yes. I keep forgetting." Maggie looked slightly awkward, framed against the kitchen door as she dried her hands on a towel. Her mom always seemed to be drying her hands Scully thought to herself. She had no idea what her mother actually did all day but whenever she saw her around the house she always seemed to have just finished cleaning something. Scully figured it was just a mom thing until she remembered that Tara, Robyn and several other women in the house were mothers too and yet they didn't seem surgically attached to the dish towels.

"Technically," the voice in her head taunted, "you're a mother too." She ignored it.

"Try not to worry Mom," she said with a weak smile, "I'll be fine." Maggie sighed and looked at her daughter with an expression that screamed anxiety.

"How can I not worry?" she demanded. "I don't care how indestructible you say you are, you're still my daughter and you're still going out there into a world I can't even begin to understand. How am I supposed to not worry?" Scully dropped her bag and walked over to her mother, wrapping her arms around her as Maggie's arms pulled her in tightly. Her mother hugged her as if she didn't even notice the physical differences that had become a part of her. Scully breathed in the scent of her mother's hair, the smell was infinitely reassuring in the most primitive parts of her brain.

"I know Mom," she whispered, "but I'm gonna be OK. I promise."

"It's not just you I'm worried about, it's everyone else," Maggie whispered into her ear. Scully had no answer for her and they both knew it.

"That's what I'm going out there to do Mom; to take away the worry."

"I know, I know baby girl. And I'm so proud of you."

"You are?"

"Of course I am. I know what's going on here, what you've done. Just because I'm not in the thick of every conversation don't think for one moment that I'm not taking in every word."

"I just never…" Scully wasn't sure how to carry on. Instead she pulled away from her mom and looked into her eyes. "I need you to take care of everyone here," she explained. "Everyone's afraid, even Bill, and... well they all need a mother right now." Maggie nodded. The two women stood in silence for a moment until they heard footsteps on the stairs.

"Hey," Mulder said, looking between the two of them, "everything OK?"

"Yeah," Scully agreed, taking a deep breath and brushing at a tear that threatened to form in the corner of her eye, "just getting ready to go."

"You take care of yourself too Fox," Maggie told him, giving him a hug as well.

"Don't worry about me Mrs. Scully," Mulder said.

"From my experience I think I have every reason too," she replied. Scully tried and failed to hide a giggle behind her hand. Mulder narrowed his eyes at her in mock annoyance then swiftly picked up her bag and threw it at her.

"Come on," he encouraged.

"Say goodbye to Matthew and Luke for me," Scully asked Maggie who nodded.

"Of course." She took a deep breath, "now go. Save the world."

Scully smiled and tried to stop herself from crying. If she was forced to admit it, what she wanted more than anything was to stay here with her mom and Mulder; hiding in their arms until all the bad things went away. Unfortunately reality wasn't that forgiving where she and Mulder were concerned. She felt Mulder take her hand and the two of them made their way outside. It was a clear night with a thin crescent moon shining in the skies over the forest. They picked their way slowly through the woods, both heading south. They could have run but to do so would have sped up their little remaining time together so neither of them even thought of it. Scully had planned a route that had her skimming the southern edges of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie before running diagonally across much of the midwest and down into New Mexico. The idea of running across the south-western deserts didn't exactly fill her with elation so she was debating hiring a car when she passed northwest Oklahoma. Although following the roads wasn't the quickest route she felt a lot better having a plan, plus the rental would make her look more official. After all, everyone was relying on nothing more than sheer gall and fake IDs to get themselves inside the field hospitals to deliver the vaccine.

"I think this is where we part ways," Mulder murmured softly beside her. The trees had thinned out and they found themselves standing at the side of the only road that passed within 20 miles of the house on its south side.

"Yeah," she agreed, looking west. There wasn't anything to see from here; just mile after mile of more trees and lakes until she reached Highway 81. Then it was 2000 miles of dodging cities and watching the landscape dry out until she reached her old home. At least she would get to see her beloved Pacific ocean again and maybe, just maybe, she'd find the time for the thing that played on the edge of her mind. She felt Mulder's hand on her arm and turned back to look at him.

"You OK?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm… No. Actually, I'm really not."

"What's wrong?"

"I don't want to do this. I want to stay here with you. I want us to hide from the darkness rather than plunging headlong into it again."

"I know, I do too, but if we don't then who will?"

"That's exactly my point Mulder. Why does it always have to be us? Why can't someone else be the one to save the world for once?" She felt like she might cry as Mulder pulled her into his arms. She wanted to hit something as anger swept over her once again. Instead she just batted ineffectually at his chest. He took her wrist in his hand and stilled her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered into her hair, "as soon as this is over we're going to Edwin's little cabin in the forest OK? Just me and you." She sniffled against him and nodded. "It's gonna be OK Scully. You and me, we're gonna make it."

"And then we never have to do this again?" she asked, aware that her voice sounded more like that of a frightened child than her usual confident self.

"Not until we go hunt that leprechaun in Ireland," he replied. She managed a weak laugh and escaped his grip to punch him playfully on his shoulder.

"You promise?"

"I promise." He reached down and kissed her. "My touchstone," he whispered.

"Poopyhead," she whispered back, barely getting the word out before collapsing into a fit of giggles. Mulder laughed too.

"Sooner we get going, the sooner we get back," he told her, "and when we do I'm not letting you out of my arms for the rest of the year."

"That's gonna make hunting awkward."

"We'll figure it out." They stood looking at each other, neither wanting to take the first step. Eventually Scully steeled herself.

"I'll see you soon."

"Not soon enough."

"Mulder I…"

"No, not here. When we get back." She swallowed and nodded then took a few steps away from him. He took a few himself then they ran back toward one another and hugged again quickly.

"Be careful," she implored.

"I will, I promise. Hurry back."

"I will."

They broke apart and Scully immediately turned and ran west, not daring herself to look back. Deep down she knew she was being ridiculous. They were both immortal, both virtually indestructible and Mulder was only going to Atlanta to talk to the CDC; it wasn't like either of them were walking through the gates of Hell. Yet somehow she couldn't shake the feeling of impending disaster. She ran a little more along the road then stopped to look back, unable to help herself. Mulder was already gone. She felt a stab of pain in her chest at the empty vista in front of her. Taking a deep breath she turned back, breaking into a fast run as she reentered the tree line and disappeared from view of the road. She wasn't hungry but she tuned her senses into her surroundings, ready to seek out anything interesting that may potentially cross her path. She would do anything to distract herself from the aching loss she was already feeling.

Three hundred feet behind her Mulder stood concealed in the trees and watched her vanish from view. He swallowed, feeling the same ache she did. He reached around inside his head and felt her as a screaming, shaking fizz of emotions that was slowly fading away. He began running himself, holding onto the sensation of Scully until distance faded it into nothingness. Only then did he feel truly alone, and truly afraid.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Author Notes:<em>**

_Happy Easter everyone! I'm currently writing the very last chapter of this story. I'm going to miss everyone so much but I have a ton of stories in various stages of completion that I can't wait to get stuck into. If you wanna get notified of them going up in the future then please favourite me here or on AO3 under the same username. Thanks again for all the wonderful review guys, really means a lot._


	47. This Is a Call To Arms

"Special Agent Fox Mulder, I'm here to see Director Gibson," Mulder told the security guard in the hut that guarded the entrance to the Center of Disease Control headquarters in Atlanta. He handed over his old FBI badge.

"You got an appointment?" The guard asked, his eyes flicking between Mulder's face and the photograph on his ID.

"No, but it's vitally urgent I speak to her," Mulder told him, directing a wave of willpower in the guard's direction.

Since discovering his new ability Mulder had spent all his free time practising the skill, gradually increasing the force of belief that he could project. He only dared to practice his most intense projections on Scully because he knew she trusted him implicitly. Four nights previously he had sat her in a chair in the middle of their room and made her believe without doubt that she was blind. The effect had been so intense that Scully had panicked and started crying. He had killed the illusion instantly but she had still taken over half an hour to calm down. The test had ignited a strong and frightening memory for her. Mulder had completely forgotten about the night in California when Oral Peattie had blinded her with a poppet; Scully on the other hand remembered it all too clearly. Afterwards she had been thrilled at how strong Mulder's ability had become but had asked him in no uncertain terms to never do anything like that to her again. Mulder had complied with her wishes; he had found much more pleasant uses for his ability anyway.

"Sure," the guard answered, bringing Mulder's attention back to the present, "I'll call ahead and let them know you're coming." He handed Mulder's ID back to him along with a visitor's pass and raised the barrier. Mulder let out a deep sigh of relief as he drove his rental down toward the CDC's main parking lot; at least the first hurdle had been jumped with ease.

There were very few cars in the lot. Only a skeleton crew remained at the institute these days. Mulder found a spot, grabbed the rucksack off the passenger seat, and checked his tie in the mirror. It had been several months since he last wore one and he didn't miss the sensation. Exiting the car he walked as slowly as he could manage to the entrance doors before pushing inside with all the confidence as he could outwardly project. This wasn't his first time entering a government facility where he didn't belong, not by a long shot, but this time the outcome felt a lot more important than it ever had before.

"Agent Mulder?" a young, black man wearing an impeccable pinstripe suit was striding across the lobby toward him.

"Yes," Mulder nodded, extending a hand to the stranger.

"Paul Manners, I'm the assistant to the Director. We just got a message that you wish you speak with her urgently?"

"That's correct."

"May I ask what this is in regards to? As I'm sure you can imagine the Director's time is very thinly stretched these days."

"I've come with vaccine samples that my partner has developed," Mulder explained, turning a wave of willpower towards the assistant.

"A vaccine? That's... I mean how? Who's your partner, why haven't we heard about this before?"

"I'd rather not waste time explaining myself twice," Mulder replied patiently, channeling his power to force the man to believe what he was saying, "it will be much quicker to tell Director Gibson herself." The man seemed to consider him briefly, confusion warring with relief on his face.

"Of course, this way. Ms Gibson is in a meeting right now but I'll have her step out."

"Thank you." Mulder followed Manners through the building and up several stories in an elevator. They exited into a white, minimalist corridor and made their way to the very end.

"Please wait here," Manners told him, knocking sharply on the last door in the hall before stepping through. With his toe Mulder kicked nervously at the plush carpeting while he waited. He could hear what was being said inside the room as clearly as if the people were standing beside him. Director Gibson was clearly dubious at the claim that an FBI Agent had just turned up claiming to have a vaccine with him and Mulder couldn't blame her. He had never tried to use his powers through a wall but figured it couldn't hurt to try. Focusing his attention on her voice he pinpointed the spot in the room where she must be sitting and sent his waves to the spot. He heard her voice falter for a moment then agreeing to come and speak to him. He killed the effect and pretended to be casually waiting, leaning himself against the wall. The door opened and Manners stepped out again followed by a smartly dressed woman with short, wavy blonde hair.

"Agent Mulder?" she asked crisply, firmly shaking his hand, "Bedelia Gibson. I believe you have something important to show us?"

"Yes, is there somewhere we can talk privately?"

"My office is just down here," she nodded, indicating down the corridor and leading the way. Mulder followed at a polite distance. Gibson entered a small, neat office filled with unusual artifacts from around the world. Mulder spotted Japanese artwork on the walls and an African mask perched on a high shelf. She took her seat behind a large, old fashioned desk and indicated for Mulder to take the one opposite. Manners had already seated himself to her right. Gibson leaned back in her chair, clearly taking in Mulder and attempting to figure out this newcomer to her world. Mulder figured that she would be tough to convince so he turned on his powers once again, aiming them strongly at her. He also attempted to split the direction so her assistant would also receive a mild dose.

"So?" Gibson asked him, cocking her head to one side as a sly smile spread across her face, "impress me." Mulder smiled back. He liked this woman already, she reminded him of Scully. He pulled out a thick folder that Scully, Suzanne and Harrison had put together for him.

"These are the findings as put together by my partner, Dr. Katherine Novak and her colleagues," he explained, making sure to use Scully's fake identity as he handed the folder to Gibson who took it and began reading through the copious notes. "She and a small team have had significant success at using the compound they discovered both as a preventive vaccine and as a cure for those already infected." Gibson's eyebrows shot up and she peered at him from above the folder. There was silence for several minutes as Gibson read.

"These notes mention an antibody, a new protein chain that has been isolated and forms the basis of the vaccine," she mused, "if that's true…" Mulder turned up his willpower a little more. "Can you tell me how this was discovered?"

"My partner is a scientist who has worked at Quantico. When all this began she was obviously eager to help out in that capacity but at first she had no success, same as everyone. Then one of our friends displayed immunity to the virus so she began tests on his blood and isolated the protein she refers to in her report."

"And may I ask why she is not here to deliver this information in person?"

"She needed to continue the research. Currently she is across the country in San Diego so she asked me to deliver the findings instead," Mulder explained. He wished Scully had been able to do this instead of him, she understood the report far better than he did, but Mulder's ability would serve the mission much better than even her best explanations so instead the task had been assigned to him. Gibson nodded slowly as she read through more pages of Scully's detailed notes; his partner was nothing if not thorough and the thought of her made him smile.

"Do you have a sample with you?" Gibson asked distractedly. Her voice was becoming infused with excitement. Mulder reached back into the bag and brought out the set of twenty filled vaccine bottles that had been assigned to his mission. He handed them over to Gibson who removed one and twisted it around under the glare of her computer monitor. The venom in the bottle swilled around slowly like corn syrup. She stared at it somewhat rapturously then looked back at Mulder. "We'll conduct our own tests immediately," she informed him. "You can wait if you like."

"Please," Mulder replied. Gibson stood and looked at the bottle again before looking back at Mulder.

"You may as well come along," she told him, "we have a lab downstairs. A number of comatose patients are in there for monitoring." Mulder and Manners both stood and followed Gibson who had pulled out a radio and was calling down to have the lab prepare for their arrival.

"It's all radios now," Manners said as they walked, pulling out his own to show Mulder, "strange being without cell phones again."

"Yeah," Mulder agreed, feeling the weight of his special cell beating rhythmically against his chest as he walked. He knew Scully was at the end of that line but he hadn't risked calling her. Maintaining connections on the secure channel was difficult and couldn't be risked just for a catch-up. However if these tests went well he would have reason to call her very soon, it had only been a few days since he last saw her but he couldn't wait to hear her voice again.

The three of them arrived at an ultra-sterile lab facility on a basement level. Mulder was grateful that he didn't feel the cold as he stepped into the room and felt the rush of icy air. Gibson directed him to a row of sterile suits and he began pulling one on beside her and Manners. Once they were fully zippered in, they entered the lab where six patients were hooked up to dozens of machines that measured their every function.

A young woman with short brown hair hurried over to them and handed Gibson a case. Gibson thanked her and opened it up to reveal a sterile needle set which she placed down on the table by the nearest patient, a teenage girl. A few lab assistants came over to watch as she loaded the needed with the venom.

"Here goes," she smiled, looking at Mulder with an expression that said she wasn't entirely sure why she was going along with this. Mulder smiled back and shot another blast of willpower at her to brush away any remaining doubt; Gibson seemed to relax. She turned and inserted the needed into a cannula attached at the girl's elbow. For several seconds nothing happened. Then the girl's back arched off the bed and Mulder heard the sound of her heart rate monitor beginning to race. The girl's skin was rippling violently and Mulder found himself stepping back from her along with the others who were all watching with rapt yet horrified expressions.

"Look," one of the assistants said, pointing to the girl's face where the Black Oil had already begun seeping from her eyes, nose and ears.

"What in the hell is that?" Gibson almost shrieked.

"I've seen it before," Mulder told them, "my partner believes it might be the organism responsible for causing the infection."

"And you didn't think to mention this?" Gibson demanded as the oil made its way to the floor. It gathered itself as it made its way toward the female assistant and began sliding up her legs.

"Oh my God!" the girl screamed, "get it off me!"

"Don't worry," Mulder told her firmly, turning his willpower on her, "your suit is sealed, it can't infect you." The girl had frozen in terror as the oil slid all around her suit and over her visor looking for a way inside. Unsuccessful, it made its way back to the floor and raced to a drainage hole, disappearing from view.

"My God," Gibson gasped from behind Mulder, "the way it moved, it was almost as if… as if it was sentient." She stared at Mulder, her expression begging him for an explanation.

"I believe," he began slowly, turning his power up to maximum as he spoke, "that this virus may be of extraterrestrial origin." Gibson stared at him and Mulder could practically see the wheels in her mind turning.

"You mean that, that thing… was an alien?"

"Yes." The two of them stared at each other.

"Where am I?" a voice asked shakily behind them. They both turned to see that the young patient was looking at them with a look of terror on her face. She couldn't be more than 15. Every lab assistant was staring in shock and disbelief between themselves and the girl. Gibson blinked and then suddenly returned to herself.

"Hello Cassie, you're at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta."

"Am I sick?"

"You were, very sick, but we think we might have just found a cure." Cassie looked tearful.

"Are my mom and dad here?"

"No," Gibson told her, "we didn't know your last name so we could couldn't contact them. We found you outside and brought you in."

"I, I think I was stung by a bee," Cassie said, clearly struggling to remember.

"I'll get someone to talk to you, you can tell them all your details and we'll try to find your parents for you," Gibson reassured her. Cassie nodded tearfully.

"Thank you," she whispered. Gibson directed her staff to take care of the girl then grabbed Mulder's elbow, obviously slightly startled by how cold and hard it felt, and dragged him across the room.

"Extraterrestrial?" she demanded.

"In a manner of speaking," Mulder answered, "the previous inhabitant of the planet that has laid dormant for millennia and is now waking up again thank to the return of its brethren." Gibson looked like she was trying to choose between kissing him and throwing him bodily from the building. It was an expression Mulder had seen many times before.

"Why should I believe that load of crap?" she asked.

"Have you ever seen a virus than can behave that way?" Mulder asked back, focusing his will on her as strongly as he could. She narrowed her eyes at him for a moment, then sighed, her body sagging visibly as she gave in.

"I suppose it's not that hard to believe," she said, "I mean I've always believed that alien life would most probably take the form of a bacterium. I just didn't expect to be watching it crawl across the floor of my lab this afternoon." She leaned against the wall to steady herself. "And I suppose it doesn't really matter where this thing came from, or how you found this vaccine. The fact is that it works and we can finally start curing people." Mulder grinned, this was exactly what he wanted to hear. There was just one final hurdle.

"There is one more thing you need to know," he began. Gibson looked up at him wearily, he doubted she could take much more insanity today.

"Oh?"

"We believe that what we've been seeing, these comas, that they're just the first stage of a larger much more destructive infection." Gibson furrowed her brow at him but didn't say anything. "Several years ago my partner and I saw evidence of a secondary and tertiary stage of this same infection, as part of FBI investigations in Dallas and Phoenix."

"And these are?" Gibson asked nervously. Mulder led her out of the lab to where he had stored his bag. The two of them removed their helmets as Mulder fished out a second file and handed it to her.

"This file relates to the secondary stage," he told her. Inside, Scully had compiled a report based on the bodies she had examined in Dallas several years previously. With the Gunmen's help she had successfully hacked into a Pentagon database and downloaded autopsy photographs of the firemen and young boy whose bodies had been discovered inside the bombed building. Scully had used the photographs and what she recalled of her own autopsy findings to put together a timeline of the infection. Mulder watched as Gibson's eyes widened in horror at the photographs and descriptions she was seeing.

"This can't be," she breathed. Mulder didn't reply, letting the woman come to terms with the facts as presented. She flipped between the photographs and Mulder sensed that she was willing them to change. She looked at up at him. "And the third stage?" she whispered, clearly not wanting to know. He handed her a set of crime scene photos from Phoenix; photos that showed a body with a gaping cavity in the torso. A cavity large enough to hold another creature. "Oh my God," she breathed.

"Gestation," Mulder told her, "of a new extraterrestrial biological entity."

"You're telling me that at some point in the future, every person on the planet who is currently in a coma will go through this process and become the…" she fished desperately for words to sum up what she was coming to terms with, "the host body for an alien creature?"

"Yes. And once it begins the process only takes about twelve hours."

"Twelve hours?!" Gibson stared at him open mouthed as the true horror of what was happening began to sink in. Mulder felt for her and switched from making her believe his story to sending out some of the waves of comfort he often used on Scully to help her relax. Gibson slid down the wall and held her head in her hands, slowly bringing her breathing back under control. After a few moments she looked up at Mulder and he noted with surprise that her eyes were slightly wet. "What do we do?"

"I have teams in place in every major city across the world," he told her, "each one armed with the vaccine. We need your help to get them inside the hospitals and begin a programme of rapid vaccination. We believe that soon after the first doses are administered and word gets out that a cure has been found, that whoever has their finger on that trigger is going to flip it and launch stage two. We need to move fast and thoroughly." Gibson looked broken, it was all too much for her.

"OK," she agreed, "I'll get the word out." Shaking her head she seemed to come to life a little. "Where are you making this vaccine?" she asked as she struggled to her feet. Mulder held out his hand to help her up. "I don't understand how you can have a big enough lab to make as much as you claim to have without my knowing about it."

"You know how you just learned that aliens are real and attempting to take over the planet?" he asked as they began making their way back up to her office

"Yeah?" she replied warily.

"I'm afraid I'm gonna have to shatter your world view again to answer that."

Half an hour later, Mulder stood outside the CDC leaning against the hood of his car and fiddling with his cell. He dialled a long number and held it up, listening to it ring and willing for it to connect.

"Scully," he heard down the line.

"Hey, it's me," he said, feeling himself brighten already.

"Mulder!" he heard the happiness in her voice too, "Oh God Mulder, I miss you so much."

"I miss you too," he told her, "listen, I have news."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, the CDC is on our side. I had to tell the Director everything but she's taken it pretty well and she's contacting everyone she can to give us authority. She's speaking to the Director of the World Health Organisation as we speak."

"That's wonderful, Mulder this will make everything so much easier for us."

"I know, I'm heading to the first field hospital now. How's it going there?"

"Good, I'm ready to move in." They fell silent. "I've gotta go," she said quietly.

"Me too." More silence.

"You gonna hang up are we gonna act like two lovestruck teenagers?" she asked playfully.

"You hang up," Mulder replied.

"No, you hang up," Scully laughed. The sound made Mulder laugh too.

"Come on," he said, "we'll be together again soon."

"I know. I hate these stupid vampire emotions, they make everything into a drama."

"Maybe you get better at handling them with time?"

"I hope so, I don't think I can take eternity bursting into tears over everything," she chuckled slightly.

"I'll see you soon Scully,"

"Yeah," she replied. Mulder clicked the phone off without saying goodbye and took a deep, steadying breath. His emotions were all over the place too. He wanted to go home but first he had more work to do. He climbed back into the car and set off for his first hospital, an authorization letter from the CDC tucked carefully into his jacket pocket.


	48. Keep the Faith

Scully forced herself to exude an air of confidence which was nothing close to the trepidation she felt within. She felt her old FBI badge weighing down her right pocket as she approached the doors to the makeshift hospital. Skinner had felt it prudent to liberate the badge from her file at the Bureau before he left to join her small group. That time now seemed like an age ago. So far the badge had sat forgotten in a box containing many of her old possessions but today she felt reassured by its familiar presence and the appearance of authority it generated. Even though Scully knew she had the official backing of the CDC, she still felt nervous. Pushing her way through the plastic inner doors which helped maintain the sterile facility, Scully looked around and was unsurprised to see nobody in the room. Hundreds of beds were laid out in neat rows, each one containing a comatose patient, all hooked up to a drip and a single monitor, every one beeping in unison. She made her way between the beds taking in the details of each patient - a pale-skinned young blonde woman, a red headed curly haired man, a dark skinned young boy, an elderly Native American man. Every age, gender and ethnicity was covered here. The alien virus didn't care who it consumed. Reaching the end of the room Scully pushed through the plastic sheeting into a second room beyond, this one almost identical to the first. In here she found a single nurse who turned at the sound of Scully's entrance and hurried to meet her.

"Ma'am I'm going to have to ask you to leave, this is a restricted area, no visitors." Scully reached into her pocket and withdrew her ID, flipping it open and showing it to the nurse in a movement so entrenched in her muscle memory she didn't even have to think about doing it.

"My name is Special Agent Dana Scully, I'm here with the Federal Bureau of Investigation," she began, the lie tripping off her tongue easily, "I'm here to oversee the administration of a vaccine to these patients."

"A vaccine?" the nurse asked in astonishment, "I haven't heard anything about that, why is the Bureau handling distribution?"

"I'm a medical doctor," Scully continued smoothly, "all medically trained Bureau staff have been asked to assist in this operation in cooperation with the Center for Disease Control. Is there someone in charge who I could speak to?"

"To be honest with you ma'am, we've kind of been left to our own devices," the nurse explained sheepishly. "There's only me and two other nurses employed here for over 300 people. The patients don't really need much in the way of looking after and there's just not enough staff to go around. All the doctors are needed in the real hospitals to look after the living." Scully flinched involuntarily at the nurse's casual suggestion that the patients under her care were already beyond saving. It was a belief that many people seemed to have adopted recently but she had hoped the hospital staff at least would be exempt. "I can take you to meet Mr. Kryder if you like," the nurse continued after a moment's thought, "lately the clergy have been taking over running these facilities and Mr. Kryder is as close to being in charge as anyone. He just deals with the administration though, pays us, makes sure there's enough TPN bags delivered each day, that kind of thing. I'm not sure what he'd know about administering a vaccine."

"Please," Scully replied with a smile. The nurse led her through another set of doors and Scully saw the figure of a man dressed in the typical black garments of the clergy. He was bent slightly over one of the beds, apparently in prayer. As she watched, the man made the sign of the cross and moved down to the next bed. Again he bent over slightly, appeared to say something, made the sign and moved on.

"He does that every day," the nurse told Scully, her eyes flickering momentarily to the gold cross which hung around Scully's neck. Scully continued to watch the man who turned and spotted them, he finished with his patient and strode across the room to meet them. Scully was astonished to see his face. Where she had been expecting to see an older man, she found herself facing a boy who could not be more than 18.

"Pamela?" the young man asked the nurse.

"This is Agent Scully with the FBI, she's here about a vaccine," the nurse explained quickly. Scully stared at the young man who finally met her eyes and stared back.

"Agent Scully," he smiled widely, reaching out to shake her hand, "I do believe we've met before." Scully's mind raced through the files of her memory, much of it now foggy not from time but because she had grown accustomed to razor sharp vampire recollection. Her eyes widened as the file she needed was located and the memories flooded back.

"Kevin?" she asked in wonder. They shook hands, the young man before her not flinching at the unusual sensation of her skin.

"I told you I'd see you again one day," he said with a smile, nodding at the nurse to acknowledge that he could handle the situation from here. "What brings you to sunny California?"

"I'm helping to distribute a new vaccine," Scully mumbled distractedly, "but Kevin what are you doing here? The nurse said the clergy were helping run these hospitals."

"Yes," Kevin agreed, leading Scully to a small desk that held only a laptop and a few files before offering her a seat, "I joined the seminary in January when I turned 18. Normally new students would never be expected to go out and do service work just months after joining but we are living in exceptional times. There are three of these hospitals in San Diego alone. Each of us was given some basic training on management then assigned to a hospital and so I wound up here. I do my best, I minister to the patients each day and make sure the hospital pays its bills and has everything it needs." Kevin studied her closely, "you look different," he mused slowly, "honestly you look younger than I remember, must be my memory playing tricks. I thought about you every day for years after our time together, you were like an angel to me."

Scully shifted nervously in her seat. The room was illuminated by clear panels in the plastic roof that let in the bright California sunshine. One panel was almost directly above her and as Scully sat she was acutely aware of the sunlight streaming in through it. The light made her skin tingle warmly and she knew it must be glowing slightly, even if the effect was almost indiscernible to human eyes.

"There's still something angelic about you," Kevin continued almost to himself before shaking his head and looking sheepish. "Sorry," he apologised, looking down at the loose papers on his desk. Scully got the feeling he was trying very hard to keep from staring; she couldn't blame him. She knew very well the strangeness and beauty of vampire physiology on human eyes and to an 18 year old boy presented with the image of a woman he had effectively deified since childhood, the effect must be more than slightly overwhelming. "Tell me about this vaccine."

"It's only recently been developed," Scully began, grateful to change the subject back to her intended cause. "The FDA has effectively disbanded at this point but trials on other patients in the North East have been successful so it's being rolled out across the rest of the country beginning with comatose patients." Kevin frowned.

"Wouldn't it be more effective to vaccinate uninfected people first?" he asked, "contain the outbreak and then treat those already infected." Scully swallowed hard.

"We have reason to believe that what we are seeing right now is just the first stage of a more extreme and damaging infection," she explained slowly, choosing her words with great care, "we don't yet know how long the comatose stage lasts but we want to cure as many people as possible before these infections have the opportunity to become fatalities." Kevin looked around them cautiously as if he expected something to happen but the room remained still and quiet with only the rhythmic beep of the machines to break the silence. He swallowed and turned back to Scully.

"You have the vaccines with you?" he asked.

"Yes, 426 doses, that is correct for this hospital?" Kevin checked some papers and nodded.

"I'll call in the other two nurses to help administer the doses. Will you be helping? I remember you were a doctor right?"

"Yes," Scully agreed as she stood. "We'll need hazmat suits, do you have access to some?" Kevin nodded, looking frightened. "Good. I'll fetch the supplies, then is there somewhere I can scrub up?"

"The nurses station is in the first room but the facilities are pretty basic," Kevin apologised as he reached for the phone, "I'll have those extra hands to you within the hour, good luck." Scully smiled at him as she made her way back outside to retrieve the cases of vaccine from the trunk of her rental car. As she felt the sun beating down on her she sighed and took a moment to enjoy its warmth, wondering how Mulder was doing almost 3000 miles away. The thought of the distance stabbed at her heart a little so she pushed the thought deep down and locked it away. There would be time for sentimentality later, right now she had work to do. Opening the trunk she gathered up the cases labelled River Park Field Hospital and locked the car again before heading inside to help deliver the vaccine and begin the long process of fighting colonisation.


	49. Behind Blue Eyes

Scully walked slowly up the sloping hill. Behind her the Pacific rolled angrily, the wind churning spray high into the air. Halfway up she reached the first gravestones; a mismatch of ages and styles that all looked out over the ocean. She picked her way around, the dim twilight giving way to an incredible sunset above the waves as she read the names on the stones. A tree had fallen nearby and lay across two of the graves. These days there was no one around to take care of the cemetery; the dead could mostly look after themselves and the living all had greater priorities. She walked over and picked the tree up easily, placing it down in some empty space and moving back to straighten the stone it had knocked over. Above her two birds flitted around in a nearby tree, chirruping angrily at each other; for some reason they reminded Scully of her and Mulder. She needed to get moving. She had spent almost two whole days visiting field hospitals. Between the visits she had been stealing vaccine bottles from nearby pharmacies and hiding in the back of her rental car to extract venom. At the same time she fed, drinking desperately from a handful of bags stolen from a nearby blood bank - there wasn't time for hunting. Now her task was complete and the prospect of a three day run home beckoned her. She would drive the car back through the desert then abandon it once she passed Phoenix. But first...

Her eyes scanned more stones until they landed on the one she had come for. The name Emily Sim-Scully was engraved into the small piece of white marble. The surname had been a concession from the district after the girl's death; a token gesture to the woman they could not deny was Emily's mother no matter how much they struggled to understand it. Scully had undergone their tests to prove that she had never given birth and there were, obviously, no records of her ever requesting the services of a surrogate. The judge had been baffled by the entire situation but presented with overwhelming evidence, had been forced to concede that Scully was in fact the unknowing, biological mother of the little girl. Sadly it had been too late by the time the decision was reached.

Scully walked over to the small white stone wondering now why she had come. Emily wasn't really here after all, she had buried nothing more than a little box of sand. She stood before the stone and couldn't think of anything to say. Instead she reached inside her pocket and twisted her fingers around the thin chain inside.

"Emily it's…" she began. She wanted desperately to continue with "mommy" but something stopped her. "It's Dana. I… I brought you something." She pulled the chain from her pocket bringing with it a golden cross similar to the ones she and Melissa owned; the latter now buried alongside her sister. She had bought this one over a year ago during her IVF attempts when her hormones had been all over the place sending her into wild mood swings. It had been an awful time. On one occasion she had started crying in Skinner's office over nothing more than a typo in her autopsy report. That incident still ranked as one of her most embarrassing moments.

"My sister and I, our mom bought one of these for both of us and I thought you should have one too," she said to the stone. She stepped forward and placed the necklace inside the small alcove where the remains of a burned out candle stood. Above it a small photograph of Emily looked out at Scully. The photo was the same one she had once stared at as she tried to understand just where this little girl had come from. It showed her daughter on her birthday, smiling delightedly behind an enormous cake. A birthday Scully had not even been aware of.

"I'm sorry I didn't visit sooner," Scully mumbled to the photograph, "I just… I found it very hard to come here. I'm still not sure what to say." A loud crack of thunder made her jump and Scully looked around. The ocean was rolling violently and dark clouds raced across the sky, moving inland as if they too had somewhere urgent to be. She looked back to the photo. "I'm so sorry for everything Emily. I wish we could have had longer together, but I'm also grateful you didn't have to live through this."

Down below her the city of San Diego was in chaos. Many businesses had closed down entirely and looting was a nightly occurrence. Scully knew that things were different now though. Mulder had succeeded at the CDC and she alone had administered the vaccine to over 900 comatose patients - all of whom had since awoken as if nothing had ever happened. The Black Oil had seeped out of their bodies and, unable to find new hosts thanks to Scully's insistence on hazmat suits, had vanished into cracks in the floors and wherever it could escape. Scully didn't much like the idea of letting it loose but there was simply no containment available; plus they hoped to have the vaccine rolled out almost globally by the end of the week. They would inevitably miss people but Scully had long since reconciled herself that this scheme could never be without fatalities.

A siren broke through the silence, joined seconds later by a second and a third. Scully frowned and stood to watch the vehicles race past. Sensing something was wrong she pulled out her new cell phone, the one Langly had given her just before she left the house. It had no signal. Scully stared at the screen willing the bars to change. No signal could mean only one thing; the colonists had figured out what they were upto. Scully suddenly panicked. She had believed her family safe in the house at Syracuse because it was so isolated and off the grid. No one even knew it was there. However if the colonists discovered the secure network the Gunmen had set up then they could trace its central servers right to the front door. If the network was down Scully reasoned they had not only discovered the network but had disabled it. They must know where the house was and now she had no way to warn anyone there about what was coming; if they hadn't already arrived.

Scully stared at the sky, frozen in terror, and watched the clouds race overhead as more sirens began to blare from the city. Had the colonists 'flipped the switch' and triggered gestation in patients who had not yet received the vaccine? She prayed that the teams she had sent out had all done their jobs over the past few days and that the major cities at least were mostly covered. She dragged her eyes back down to Emily's gravestone and stared at it.

"Goodbye sweetheart," she whispered, "I'll visit again soon. Mommy loves you." Immediately she walked away as if expecting censure from the silent stone for daring to use the term. She quickened her pace, reaching the warmth of her car just as rain began to fall. She allowed herself one last look up the hill before pulling away and beginning the long journey back home to fight beside her family, whatever might be left of them by the time she arrived.


	50. This Is Where I Stand

"No," Langly hissed at the screen, "no, no, no!" He reached out and slapped the side of the monitor but the screen stayed the same.

"What's up?" Frohike asked, sliding his chair over to take a look himself.

"The network's gone down."

"What do you mean?" Frohike stared at the screen, "how can it have gone down?"

"I don't know. According to the computer it's working fine but there's no broadcast. The signal's still being generated; it's just not going anywhere."

"It's being blocked," Byers cut in, stepping over to look at the screen himself.

"How can someone be blocking it?" Frohike asked.

"Whoever's doing it must have discovered the signal when we used the phones and traced it back here," Byers said, "that's the only way they could be doing it." The three men fell silent.

"Get Mulder," Frohike said; his voice uncharacteristically quiet. Byers left the room, returning just minutes later with Mulder, Edwin & Mordecai in tow.

"What's happening?" Mulder asked. He had only returned to the house a few hours earlier and was still getting his bearings on exactly what was going on.

"The secure network we devised has gone down, someone's blocking it," Langly told him. Mulder pulled out his cell and saw that the screen showed nothing. There was no connectivity rendering the device totally dead. His only lifeline to Scully had been severed and he felt a fleeting moment of panic. Had she already noticed? Was she on her way home? It was almost a full day until she was due to make it back to the house. He clamped down on his fear.

"So the colonists have figured out what we're up to?" he guessed.

"Well we've assumed that from the reports of stage two triggering across the country but yes, I think it's fair to say they've figured out who's behind the vaccine."

"They're trying to cut us off," Edwin added.

"Only one reason they'd do that," Mordecai said solemnly, "they're preparing to attack us here. They've identified this building as the rallying point for the resistance and they're coming to stop us."

They all looked at one another.

"Mordecai, what do you recommend?" Mulder asked. "We've got almost 100 humans in this building and they're as good as dead if they send newborns against us like they did at El Rico. We need to organise a defence."

"How many vampires have made it back?" Mordecai asked.

"About 200," Edwin answered. Each vampire on a vaccine delivery had been asked to report back to Edwin who was marking the cities off on a map, allowing them a clear visual representation of coverage. It wasn't a perfect system but with their lack of communications it was the best they could do.

"OK," Mordecai sighed, thinking fast, "I want to set up two perimeters; an outer one at 500 feet and an inner one at 100 feet. We'll surround the entire building with two circles of fighters. I want 100 people in that outer ring; if my math is correct that gives us one person every 15 feet. I want another 75 people on the inner perimeter, that's one every 4 feet so that circle should be tight if the outer ring is breached. I want another group on the roof and a dozen more immediately outside. Mulder, you and I will stay inside to liaise with these guys; anyone else shows up we send them out to that first perimeter to boost the numbers out there. In here we arm every human who can hold a gun. I want everyone in the central room away from the windows. Anyone vulnerable, kids at least, to the middle with the others surrounding them as a last line of defense. We know the colonists are vulnerable to bullets but I'd rather it didn't come down to that."

"You think we can hold them off?" Edwin asked.

"Honestly, I have no idea," Mordecai answered. "We don't know anything about this enemy so I don't know how to defend against them, I have to base everything on what I saw at El Rico. We don't know how they will attack this time, how they'll get here or how they might be armed. What we can assume is that the first wave of newborns will have gestated by now. I'm betting that the only reason we haven't been hit already is that the colonists are gathering as many of them as possible to throw at us, they'll likely use them as cannon fodder."

Frohike shuddered remembering his first and so far only encounter with a newborn alien colonist. He felt a moment of phantom pain as he remembered the creature throwing him to the ground and his arm shattering, it had only been a few weeks since Scully had finally removed his cast. An image of Scully appeared in his head, the way she had looked as she had torn the colonist apart after it had attacked Mulder and left him fatally wounded. She had seemed feral, completely insane with rage and the shriek that had come from her when she had launched at the creature still played in his nightmares. The colonist hadn't had a clue what it had unleashed by attacking Mulder. The terrifying savage streak Frohike had witnessed in Scully had increased when she had tasted Mulder's blood, to the point where Edwin had been forced to physically throw her across the room. Frohike had been horrified at the violence of the action. He knew full well by then that she was inhumanly strong and practically indestructible, but even now he still thought of her as the deceptively fragile woman he had come to know. Watching a relative stranger hurl her across a room and into a wall had been more than he could watch and seeing the raw vitriol on her face at that moment had almost undone him completely.

"Come on then," Mulder said, snapping his fingers, "let's get to it." He walked over to a store cupboard and pulled out three rifles, handing one to each of the Gunmen.

"Here goes nothing," Byers sighed as he took his weapon. Frohike looked around at his friends. He had no idea what the next few days would bring but he had a feeling somewhere deep in his gut that made him uncomfortable. He found himself clutching his weapon tighter than necessary and for the first time since childhood, he felt an urge to pray.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>_

_Well guys, this is it. A couple nights ago I finished off the final chapters for this baby and sent them to my awesome beta. They've just come back and it's all finished here! I'll be uploading every couple of days until the end now. I'm gonna miss this fic so much but I've also been holding off (often unsuccessfully depending on just how inspired I was) on several others and I still have my NaNoWriMo fics to edit and publish from last November! Thanks again to everyone who's following/favourited this or me, those notification emails really make my day! One last thing, I haven't been noting where the chapter titles have come from lately. Recent ones have included easyworld, The Who, Bon Jovi, David Ford, Brandon Flowers and Joy Division. They're all amazing and I recommend you go and take a listen._


	51. Going Underground

"Damn it!" Langly cursed over the din of the ship's engines as it hovered almost a mile north of the house, "they've breached the outer perimeter."

"Pull everyone back, shield the house" Mulder shouted to him but his voice was lost in the noise as every window in the building shattered simultaneously. Most of the children were crying and the adults standing guard in a circle around them all looked pale and afraid. Mulder made eye contact with Maggie who looked out of place as she stood with her daughter's gun raised in her hand, the weapon pointed levelly and unwavering at the door. The past few months had hardened her features and turned her eyes steely but Mulder could still see the kind mother that survived behind them. She looked away from him to return her gaze to the door the gun was aimed at and Mulder was reminded of Scully's own fierce determination. He knew his partner was probably racing across the country right now desperately trying to get back to the house as fast as she could; but since they lost communications he had no clue where she might be. The thought worried him but he knew she would be OK; Scully was tough.

Two shapes appeared at the window and Mulder crouched into attack position before recognising that it was Tim and Leyla.

"They're on the ground," Leyla told him, stealing a nervous glance at the humans, "there's too many of them, we can't hold them off much longer." Mulder's mind raced. There just weren't enough vampires left at the house to defend it but if the colonists got inside lives would be lost. For some reason the ship was staying to the north of the house, not coming any closer than a mile away.

"We have to get these guys out of here," he said, indicating the humans. "The colonists know we're here and they're gonna keep coming. We need to hole up somewhere else, convince them that they've wiped us out."

"Where?" Tim asked. Mulder began mentally sorting through every local landmark he had ever come across on his hunts until one stood out. He strode over to the table which was still covered in maps and found one that covered the local area in detail. He pointed at a spot several miles south.

"Here," he said, "Rock Lake. It's a bit of a trek for them but there's a cave there that leads under the lake. It's big enough to hide everyone inside, plus it's not on the map and the entrance is damn near impossible to spot, I only found it be chance myself." He looked up to gauge reactions. A few people looked unsure but Bill and Charlie were nodding. "Tim, Leyla, Mordecai - we need to go with them, they won't make it through otherwise."

"They'll notice if we evacuate," Suzanne said, "the sudden silence will give it away."

"Then someone should stay behind," Byers answered, "we could use the computers to simulate that we're all still here. If we broadcast an electronic shield they'll figure we're up to something and focus on attacking the house rather than watching the surrounding woods. The pantry exit is almost completely concealed and it's south facing, you can get out that way."

"I'll stay back," Mulder began but Langly interrupted.

"No, they need you to lead everyone down there. I'll stay, I know how to generate the shield and maintain it if they attack."

"But if they breach the house…" Suzanne started. Langly shook his head.

"If they do then I'll face up to whatever happens, but if there's just me I can lock myself into the control room, brace the door and keep myself safe." There was a sudden quiet broken only by the continued sobbing from one of the smaller children and the hum of the engines.

"OK," Mordecai said, snapping everyone to attention, "we're moving out now, no sense in waiting. Mulder to the front, I'll take the rear. Tim, Leyla - flank to the sides." He turned to the humans who were all listening intently. "If you're fit and armed, position yourselves along the sides, we need to to shield the group as much as possible with the weakest to the center." The group gathered into an organised formation. Those carrying children in the middle and the strongest adults forming a moving shield around the weakest, flanked on all sides by a vampire guard.

"Wait," Mulder said, suddenly looking around the room. Everyone watched him as he strode across to a basket of supplies and picked up a can of bright orange spray-paint, shaking it up as he returned to the map. He sprayed the can into the air weakly, letting the paint dribble down the can. Then, carefully, he used the drips to create an X shaped blob on the map at the point where they were going before placing the can nearby to weigh down the map. To anyone else it looked as if the paint had simply dripped onto the map by accident, but Mulder knew that Scully would understand.

"What the hell are you doing?" Frohike asked as Mulder turned back.

"X marks the spot," he said simply, as he stared at the map. "This way if Scully gets here and Langly has been forced out, she'll be able to find us."

"If you say so," Frohike said, taking a look at the map, "just looks like a blob of paint to me."

"Yeah, well Scully's a whole lot smarter than you are Frohike," Mulder retorted.

"That she is," Frohike agreed as they retook their positions in the group and began to move out. "Good luck," he said to Langly who saluted in reply.

"Don't worry," he called after them as he gathered all his equipment and prepared to seal himself in the control room, "Lord Manhammer has been victorious in battles more terrible than this, he shall prevail once more!" Byers smirked but when he caught Suzanne's eyes as they made their way to the pantry she could see that he was worried.

"He'll be OK," she assured him, even though she didn't feel all that convinced of it herself.

"I know," Byers lied.

At the pantry Mulder reached the outer door first and signalled everyone to hold back. He approached it silently, flanked on either side by Bill and Charlie who moved in military formation with their weapons drawn and aimed perfectly over Mulder's shoulders. He slowly opened the door and scanned the surrounding woods, seeing nothing untoward. He checked left and right before signalling the group to move forward. They moved out into the woods silently but as soon as Mordecai cleared the door the air was split by a shriek. A dozen colonists landed beside them having propelled themselves down from the roof. The group immediately contracted as everyone attempted to shield the children at the centre and the air was filled by the sound of gunfire. The vampires were forced into defensive positions, only able to respond to each attack.

"There's too many of them," Mulder called out, "I don't have time to disable them before I'm having to fight the next one off. We need help!"

"I'm running out of ammo," Bill shouted.

"Me too," Charlie added before firing another round into a group of three colonists who were preparing to launch forward at the group. The bullets staggered them but not enough to stop the attack. As they regrouped and prepared to rush at them again there was a roar from the woods and a flash of movement as something shot out of the trees and hit the three colonists, sending them all sprawling to the ground. A tearing sound reached Mulder and he turned to see that the three colonists were now just a pile of torn flesh. He looked up and came face to face with the newly bright red eyes of Assistant Director Skinner.

"You said you needed help?" he asked with an exhilarated grin as Mulder spotted Thea tearing another colonist into pieces behind him. With the extra hands the vampires were able to both defend and attack and within seconds all the colonists had been destroyed.

"Come on," Mordecai shouted, shooting an approving and thankful look at Thea and Skinner, "before more of them show up."

Skinner fell into step beside Mulder and began helping him clear a path through the trees as Thea took rear guard alongside Mordecai, occasionally running wide circles around the group to check for danger.

"So," Mulder began, checking out Skinner's new physiology, "this is the path you took to rid yourself of the nanobots?"

"I've spent the last few years reading everything I could on the technology," Skinner told him as they walked, "the guys even hacked into the Pentagon computers for me and downloaded everything they could on SR-819 but there was nothing about a cure. Certainly nothing out there that seemed like it could remove them from my bloodstream for good. Thea was the one who first suggested this, not directly, but when she was telling me about transformations she mentioned how the blood is purified during the process and I began to wonder. We had no idea what would happen if she transformed me. It's new ground being broken, turning someone infected with nanobots, but nothing different happened when Thea would feed so I decided it was worth the risk. I hadn't felt truly free in years knowing that was permanently over my head."

"So for the last few weeks you've been?

"At the old house in West Yarmouth," Skinner replied. "It's isolated. Far away from humans for when I woke up and we knew it was empty."

"Did anything unusual happen?"

"No, she said it looked like a normal transformation as far as her experience goes."

"Well, I suppose we've learned one thing," Mulder added.

"Oh?"

"That transformation doesn't grow your hair back for you!" Skinner barked a laugh and Mulder grinned. "Damn good timing you showing up back here just now, what were you just hanging around in the woods waiting for the right moment to burst in and dramatically save the day?" Skinner snorted.

"Come on Mulder, you know the truth about our relationship," he said.

"Oh?" Mulder replied with an amused grin as they led the group south into the darkening woods, "what's that then?"

"I'm always the one saving your ass!"


	52. Time to Say Goodbye

Scully was still many miles from the house when she saw the lights hovering over the forest. She ran faster than she ever had before, crashing through the undergrowth at speeds she didn't even realise she was capable of. The branches clawed at her hair and her skin, her muscles screamed in protest but she continued forwards, ploughing through the darkness toward the brilliant light that grew steadily brighter. As the miles receded she heard the steady hum of the ships engines pulsating through her and felt the air spinning. Gravity was inconsistent here but she compensated, still pushing herself forward over fallen trees and straight through bushes. Finally she emerged into a blaze of white light that all but obliterated the house from her vision. She shielded her eyes for a brief second, trying to make out the building and assess any damage. The ship hovered ominously high above her but it seemed to be struggling. Recovering her sense of sight she made for the door, pushing it open with so much force she felt the wood crack and saw the panel fly toward the stairs. The room was deserted. She focused on her sense of smell, instantly recognising the scent of fresh human blood nearby. Her stomach twisted and she forced herself to head for the smell, crashing through more doors until she found herself in the small room which had until recently been a music studio. Now the walls were covered with banks of monitors, the floor so flooded with cables that it appeared to be covered with snakes. Rounding the table that stood in the centre of the room Scully found Langly collapsed on the floor in a pool of blood. His t-shirt was torn across the centre in a single deep gash and dark red blood still oozed from the wound. One of his hands held a rifle and nearby the corpse of an alien colonist lay sprawled on the floor, a bullet hole clean between its eyes. Langly's other hand rested atop a keyboard and his eyes, barely open, scanned a nearby screen.

"Oh my God," Scully whispered, crouching down beside him and examining the wound in the harsh white light that poured in through the windows.

"Scully?" Langly murmured, his eyes finding hers, "that you?"

"Yeah, it's me," she whispered back, pressing her hands to the wound which she already knew was too deep and too damaging for even vampire venom to heal. "What happened, where is everyone?"

"Ship came," Langly breathed heavily, "hundreds of them, tore the house apart, but they didn't find what they were looking for." He smiled at Scully as she brushed the hair out of his eyes. She managed to force a smile in return. "It's OK," he whispered to her.

"No, no it's not ok," she whispered back through sobs, "you never wanted any part of this." Langly lifted his hand, dropping the rifle to the ground as he did, and rested it heavily on hers. She clasped her fingers between his and held on.

"You were right, I'm sorry," he breathed.

"No," Scully sobbed, "don't say that. You were the only one who acted rationally. You had every right to hate me. To hate what I'd become." Langly squeezed her hand.

"You saved the world Scully," he smiled, the colour rapidly draining from his face. "The news reports, they're saying millions of people have woken up. The vaccine has stopped the spread of the virus. If you never made the choice, we'd never have known. You were brave, I was too scared."

"But you came back," Scully reminded him, hearing his heartbeat weaken, the beats slowing and skipping, "you came back to us. Even when you were afraid you still helped us. You were braver than any of us." Langly just stared at her, too weak now to argue. "Langly please, where is everyone?" Scully pressed, knowing time was running out, "where are my family and all the others? Where's Mulder?"

"Safe," Langly breathed, "under... rock, Mulder's idea, he said… he said that X marks the..." Langly's voice slurred and his grip on her hand loosened. Scully rested him against her and held him as she listened to the final beats of his heart. As the last thump echoed through her head, the lights of the ship suddenly went out and the engine noise stopped as the ship vanished. Scully was plunged into darkness and the sudden silence chilled her. She swallowed back sobs and gently lowered Langly to the floor, scrambling for a light source to help her. She found a flashlight nearby and flicked it on, the beam helping her search the room for a clue. There were papers everywhere, inventories, memos, official looking forms but nothing that looked useful.

"Under rock," she muttered to herself, picking carefully through the tangled wires, "under rock. What the hell does that mean?" Her light beam skimmed across a desk covered in maps and she made her way toward it. On the very top was a detailed map of the local area, pinned down by a can of orange spray paint. Her eyes flew across it and landed on a blue and orange blob almost five miles south of her. "Rock Lake," she whispered to herself. A blob of orange paint had seemingly dripped from the can at the north-east point of the lake in a rough X shape but the placement of the blob was too obvious and too precise to be an accident. She knew immediately what it meant. Switching off the flashlight and dropping it on top of the map, Scully made her way back to Langly. She carefully picked up his body and carried it through the silent house to his room, placing it gently on the bed and covering it with a blanket so it looked as if he were only sleeping. Even though she knew it was a ridiculous thought, she didn't want him to get cold.

The room was just as he had left it. A black t-shirt hung limply out of a laundry basket, several graphic novels were strewn on the floor by the bed and the desk was covered in an assortment of computer parts. Nobody had more than a bag of possessions here but they had all tried to make a part of the house into their homes. Scully bit her lip and tried to force back the tears that threatened to consume her. She knew where she had to go. Turning back she knelt beside the bed, made the sign of the cross and whispered a few prayers.

"I'm sorry," she told Langly, "I don't want to leave you but I have to. I'll be back soon, I promise." She swallowed hard again before turning away and leaving the room, shutting the door with unnatural gentleness before heading back outside into the night on a path that would lead her south.


	53. Never Let Me Down Again

Scully crashed through the silent woods as fast as she could. In her mind she held a perfect image of the map Mulder had left for her. These days she understood the photographic memory he had always experienced and why he had both loved and loathed it in equal measure. A deer shot out in front of her and Scully's throat burned painfully at the smell of blood pounding in the animal's chest but she ignored it. It had been days since she had last fed but she didn't care. She was so close to her family and to Mulder that she wouldn't stop for anything. The faint, fresh smell of water reached her and she pressed on harder knowing that the cave entrance would be nearby. She reached the bank, halted instantly and tried to detect the smell of blood or the thoughts of a nearby vampire. The air was utterly silent and she began to worry; surely she should be able to sense something if they were close by? Silence like this could mean that the colonists had arrived before her and there was nobody left alive. Could the colonists actually kill vampires? She knew that there were a few ways to kill her kind. It was difficult, certainly, but definitely possible and she had no doubt that the colonists would have done their homework. They must have known by now what they were up against. She stopped herself before the panic really took hold, trying to remember and duplicate the calm she felt whenever Mulder used his special mental skill on her. He still thought that she didn't know how he used it on her when they were alone but she had long since figured it out.

She froze and listened to the silence again, forcing herself to tune out every possible distraction. This time she felt a faint hum in the air. Looking behind her in the direction of the house she saw a faint blue light in the woods and shot towards it. The blue light had appeared to her before when she was lost and it had never once led her astray. The light vanished and Scully stopped again, looking around herself. A rock caught her attention. On its surface was a streak of orange spray paint. She looked around and spotted another one; their positions seemed to indicate a doorway in what appeared at first to be nothing more than a mossy crack in the rock. Scully pressed her fingers gently against the moss and felt it yield. She crouched and crawled forwards, feeling the ground slope down and away from her as she slipped through a gap that was practically invisible from outside. How had Mulder known where to find this place?

The space opened up after around 30 feet of crawling. She stood and followed the narrow, damp slit in the rock further and further underground. After a few minutes she caught the first scent of human blood. She hurried as the smell became stronger and the sound of voices finally reached her. She tried to hear Mulder's thoughts but couldn't pick him out from the cacophony. Was he even here? She found herself starting to run as one single thought took over; what if he wasn't here? She didn't think she could take it, not when she believed that she was finally about to see him again.

She burst into a large, open chamber and found herself looking at a room full of people. Her eyes scanned the crowd as a few people called out her name. She spotted Bill and Charlie together on the ground looking relieved at her appearance, and her mother who had burst into tears and was running across the room to her.

"Dana!" she cried, wrapping her arms around Scully, "oh thank God."

"I'm OK Mom, I'm OK, I promise," Scully assured her.

The wave of emotion that hit her was so powerful it almost knocked her to the ground. Mulder shot across the room and gathered her into his arms.

"I am never, ever, letting you go away again," he breathed into her ear.

"And I'm never, ever leaving again," she whispered back. "I was so scared Mulder. I got here and it was silent. I couldn't hear your thoughts."

"It's the rocks," Mulder explained gently, finally releasing his grip a little and holding her out where he could look into her face but never releasing her from his fingers. "The magnetite stops our thoughts from being transmitted more than a few feet, it acts as a shield somehow. Turns out it also hurts the colonists and stops their ships from landing, somehow it affects the systems so they can't get close or land. It saved us."

"What the hell is magnetite?" Scully asked dazedly, she was far too caught up inside Mulder's waves of emotion and thought to take in much of what he'd said.

"It doesn't matter," he laughed, running his hands through her hair and bathing in her emotions himself, "none of it matters anymore."

"Ahem," a voice behind them coughed. Scully unhappily released herself from Mulder's grip and turned to see Edwin who was smiling at her proudly. "You did it," he said as he pulled her into another, entirely different, hug. Scully relaxed as she felt his emotions surrounding her. Edwin treated her like a daughter and she revelled in the fatherly pride she received from him, a sensation she had missed deeply during the past few years.

Her enjoyment was pierced by a less pleasant emotion and she broke apart from Edwin to face Byers and Frohike who were looking at her somewhat desperately. She swallowed hard and realised that she didn't actually need to say anything, her face had already told them everything she couldn't find the words for. Frohike inhaled sharply and she saw his hands clench into fists, Byers' face was frozen, wide-eyed in horror as Suzanne slid up beside him and prised her fingers between his.

"I'm sorry," she managed as she felt Mulder's emotions change, feeling the exact moment he learned the truth too.

"Was he, did he, was he alone?" Frohike stammered out.

"I was with him," she said quietly, "I did everything I could but by the time I got there… I was too late. I'm so sorry." Frohike nodded once, tensely before turning on his heels and walking away through the crown who parted to let him pass. Scully knew he was going to locate the bottle of whiskey he kept at the bottom of his old, weathered rucksack. Later she would go and find him but right now she knew that he needed to be alone. Suzanne had managed to coax Byers back to life and he was breathing heavily as he came to terms with everything.

"He said he always said he wanted to be buried near the sea," Byers said quietly, more to Suzanne than the room at large, "because he always loved the idea of the sea. When he saw it on TV as a kid in Nebraska it always looked so incredible and inspiring, he said he would never get enough of hearing it, that he could listen to the waves forever." Suzanne held onto Byers and nodded.

"Then we'll do that," she assured him.

"I just…" Byers looked up at Scully imploringly, "he's really gone?" Scully pressed her lips together as she tried not to cry.

"I'm sorry," she whispered again. Byers sniffed, his resolve almost cracking momentarily.

"I have to go," he muttered, pulling away from everybody and stalking off in the direction Frohike had gone. Suzanne moved to follow him but Scully touched her arm to stop her.

"Give him some time," she suggested, "he's just gone to find Frohike and have a few strong drinks. I think they need to work through this just the two of them for now. He'll find you when the time is right, I promise." Suzanne sighed.

"Yeah." She seemed to consider something for a moment. "I wish I understood him the way you do."

"His emotions are strong right now that's all, I can read them both easily, it's not normally like that."

"It is for you and Mulder," Suzanne said, a strained longing in her voice.

"We're bonded," Mulder said, coming to stand beside Scully and allowing his emotions to flood over her as she did the same to him, both working together to console and support the other, "it's different for vampires."

"Yeah I know," Suzanne said with a hint of a smile before walking away. Scully watched her go as she entwined her emotions with Mulder's more deeply, finally feeling them settle into their usual comfortable form. This was something she truly loved about her relationship with Mulder, the way she could feel him in and around her whenever she needed him.

When she had first been turned and Edwin introduced her to Gideon and Harrison the idea of bonding had repulsed her. Scully enjoyed being alone. She had adored her apartment in Georgetown no matter how many times it had been violated by her enemies, simply because it had been her space. She had taken care of it, spending her free time cleaning and carefully arranging her things. She replaced the newer photographs on her shelves every six months to keep them up to date and rotated through older ones such as her parents' and grandparent' wedding portraits so there was always something new to look at. Her books and small record collection were alphabetised and she kept well ordered memory boxes at the top of her wardrobe that were neatly labelled: "St. Catherine's Berkeley", "Stanford", "Quantico". Everything was structured and organised the way she wanted it, and that included her own mind. The idea of having her mind invaded at will by the thoughts and emotions of another horrified her. She felt the same way about knowing that at any moment Mulder could pick through her own feelings without her knowledge or express permission. She relished in her privacy, only showing emotion when her hand was forced and choosing to keep most to herself behind her carefully constructed mental walls. She could have no such walls with a vampire lover and, secretly, that thought had been one of those that made her unwilling to turn Mulder when they were finally reunited. However the walls had inevitably crumbled when she had turned him. She had been given no choice, letting him die was simply impossible, and when he had awoken she had braced herself for an onslaught which had simply never come. Mulder's emotions had seemingly fitted into a space she never knew she carried within her and she had never once felt violated by knowing that he was inside her head. Instead she felt understood in a way she had never imagined.

"Dana?" Maggie's voice startled her out of the place she had retreated to inside herself.

"Mom," Scully said, looking up and smiling as she relaxed a little, "what happened? I need to know everything."

"The colonists attacked the house," Mordecai said, appearing seemingly from nowhere with Bill and Charlie in tow, "although I guess you've figured that out already. Mulder knew about this place so we evacuated everyone down here. Somehow we got through the forest without losing anyone, I can only guess we had some angels watching over us or something because I didn't believe it was possible. We got everyone inside and braced for the ships to follow us. About an hour later one appeared and we got ready to fight but then something happened to it. It started… vibrating, as if it was trying to shake itself apart."

"You've heard of a resonant frequency?" Charlie cut in. Scully nodded. "From what I saw, I think the electromagnetic waves given off by the magnetite match the resonant frequency of the ships. When they get too close they begin to shake themselves apart. I imagine the rocks affect the ship's control systems too because it didn't even try to move away, it just fell apart in the air over the lake."

"A few more ships arrived after that one but they kept their distance," Mordecai continued. "We heard noises in the woods and then the colonists attacked. We'd had vampires out on lookout so we got some warning they were coming, but they seemed weaker than they did at the house. Tim grabbed a lump of the magnetite rock from the ground and slashed one of them with it, the rocks caused their blood to bubble and it collapsed within seconds. We figured it wasn't only the ships that were adversely affected by the magnetite so we all began tearing chunks of rock out of the ground and using them as weapons. It more than tripled the rate at which we could kill them. They gave up after twenty minutes, retreated into the forest. Then we saw the ships leaving. That was about an hour ago when we withdrew in here."

"What's the situation outside?" Bill asked.

"Langly said…" Scully paused and swallowed hard, "he said that it's worked. That millions are waking up all around the world." She stopped again to collect her thoughts and suddenly laughed. Bill smiled back at her.

"Who'd have thought it, my nerdy brat of a sister saved the world," he grinned. She glared at him but smiled.

"There's gonna be a lot more to do," she said sadly, "it's gonna take a lot to put the planet back together after this."

"Yes but at least there's something left to fix," Charlie added.

"Yeah," Scully agreed.

"I think we should get back to the house," Mulder said, "if we're gonna begin cleaning up this mess, we should start there."

"I promised Langly I wouldn't leave him alone too long," Scully told them all.

"Then let's keep your promise," Mulder smiled sadly. Scully nodded and they all broke apart to gather the supplies ready for the long walk north.

* * *

><p><strong>Author Note:<strong>

_Just a couple chapters left after this! I'm away all weekend but hopefully I'll get them posted next week and then it will all be over. I hope this chapter satisfies the request for something a bit longer and that you're enjoying it all. Thank you for all the great reviews, they're really what makes it worth writing until 3am for._


	54. Open Roads

Even with her newly perfect posture that added another inch and a bit to her height, Bill Scully still towered over his baby sister. She looked up at him and he reached out to pull her into a bear hug, no longer flinching at the coldness of her skin. Pulling apart a few moments later she regarded him carefully. This was their first moment alone in several days.

"Have you forgiven me?" she asked eventually. He looked back at her, carefully controlling his expression.

"Yes," he answered. "I understand why you did what you did and why it was necessary. It was the right choice no matter how it seemed to me at first." She smiled at him.

"I'm so happy to hear you say that, I didn't want us to part ways badly."

"Neither did I. Look I know I can be a bit of an..."

"Overprotective bullying jerk?" she supplied with mock helpfulness. He glared at her but grinned.

"I suppose you could phrase it that way," he conceded, "but I just want the best for you and our family. You're truly happy?"

"Happier than you can imagine," she agreed. "I have an unbelievable future ahead of me."

"That you do," he smiled. "Does it ever worry you though? I mean, we were raised to believe in Heaven and now you'll never see it. You'll never be reunited with Dad."

"It bothered me at first," she explained slowly, "the thought of seeing Ahab again was... Well when I was lying in that hospital bed thinking I was going to die it was the only positive thing I could find in the situation. But the Bible also says that one day Heaven will be here on Earth, so maybe our kind have been put here to make sure the Earth reaches that day." Bill looked at her, brow furrowed as he thought hard over what she had said, slowly he nodded.

"I could believe that," he began. "I mean, we know there's aliens out there now and that could easily mean there's more who will turn up in the future. Now the Earth will always have Dana Scully here to defend it."

"And Mulder," she added with a grin. Bill rolled his eyes.

"And Mulder too," he agreed as Tara, Matthew and Harrison approached them.

"Ready?" Tara asked Bill as she smiled at Scully.

"Yep," Bill replied, watching Scully giving Matthew a hug. "Take care you guys."

"Will do," Harrison answered as he shook Bill's hand, "you're sure you don't want to join us?"

"I think I'd rather take my chances with this life and the next," Bill replied, "besides if Dana's theory pans out then we'll all be together again in the future, and that time it'll be forever." Harrison looked curiously at Scully who shrugged him off and waved at her nephew who was now running around near the edge of the forest. "I'll see you soon sis."

"You better believe it," she replied with a smile as Bill hopped down the steps with Harrison who was walking them down to the car he had brought over for their drive. The Scully's were some of the last to leave and the house was feeling increasingly large and empty.

Despite the circumstances Scully had grown to like the house and the sense of family whenever she returned to the building to find it full of people. Having her entire family and closest friends all together in one place had been wonderful but she had always known it could never last. One day normality would have to resume, people would leave and begin trying to rebuild their lives. Today was that day.

"You OK?" Tara asked. Scully hadn't noticed that her sister-in-law hadn't followed the others outside.

"Yeah, just thinking about how quiet it's gonna be now everyone's left," Scully said with a reassuring smile, "no more kids playing outside and parents yelling across the house."

"It must be strange," Tara admitted as they watched Matthew mock sword fighting with Harrison using a pair of large sticks, Bill encouraging his son and offering advice, "never having any kids around I mean."

"Actually…" Scully began, trying to think how best to explain her feelings on the subject, "it's something I found easy to accept. In fact I think I had it a lot easier than a lot of the other vampires." Tara looked a little confused so she continued. "When the others like Thea and Leyla were transformed they suddenly found themselves incapable of having children, they had to learn to accept that fact as part of their new identity. I didn't have that battle. Instead I found myself among a community where not being able to carry a child was a complete non-issue. At my age as a human, people would always be asking. If Mulder and I were on a case with other female agents or working with local law enforcement it always came up: 'so do you have any children?', 'thinking of having some soon?'. When I became part of this world it stopped completely. No one ever asks and suddenly I was surrounded by women in the same situation. It was… it was actually kind of a relief." Tara smiled and silently drew Scully into a hug. Scully relaxed a little, happy to have that weight off her chest even though she had been unaware of ever carrying it. She caught Bill's eye and noticed that he was looking fractionally concerned at the sudden display of unexpected affection on the front steps. She grinned at him as she and Tara pulled away.

"Just a little sisterly bonding," Tara called to him by way of explanation, "you'll visit soon?" she added to Scully.

"Promise."

Tara squeezed her forearm and left to join Bill and Matthew. Scully watched them disappear into the trees and felt the sudden pang of unhappiness when they all vanished from sight, following Harrison down to the car. She would miss having her family around her every day. Tara's words came back to her and she realised that the lack of children in her world had never bothered her before; would it now? She still hated that she couldn't conceive, would never feel the sensation of life stirring within her the way her mother had felt so many times, but at least now she was surrounded by people who understood and would always be there to support her.

"You're thinking too loudly again," Mulder teased, coming to stand beside her and gently wrapping his arms around her waist as he pressed a gentle kiss on her neck.

"Sorry," she sighed.

"Have Bill and his family gone?"

"They just left."

"Good, now I can do this in public without fearing for my life," he grabbed her ass, spun her around and pulled her against him, pushing his lips against hers. He felt her giggle beneath him and she playfully pushed him away.

"My mother however, is still here," she scolded.

"Eh, your mother likes me," Mulder shrugged. Scully swatted at him half-heartedly. "This place feels awfully big now," he added.

"You read my mind," Scully agreed.

"I think I promised you a cottage in the woods with an ocean view; feels like a long time ago now."

"You did."

"You want to leave today?" he asked sheepishly. She looked at him, eyebrows raised.

"You mean it? You're ready to settle down in our own little cottage together and live like a normal couple?"

"Scully… we're vampires. Just how normal a life do you think we're ever going to have?" Scully giggled again and shook her head.

"Provided I'm not expected to deal with aliens anytime this century I'll be happy."

"Well I did a little research," Mulder began, Scully glared at him, "and where we'll be living isn't all that far from Lake Okanagen."

"And that's relevant because?"

"Have you ever heard of Okopogo?" Scully turned and began to walk away from Mulder, shaking her head and trying to stifle a laugh as she did.

"It's a sea monster," he called after her as she walked away, "originally named N'ha-a-itk by the Native Americans." She didn't stop walking. "OK OK we did sea monsters I know, how about a windigo, they're meant to live in the northern forests?" Scully disappeared into another room, still ignoring him. Mulder sighed heavily and pulled a face in the direction she had gone.

"You're no fun," he muttered to himself.

"You know that's not true," Scully's thoughts whispered seductively inside his head. Mulder grinned and bounded after her.


	55. Carry On My Wayward Son

_Three Weeks Later_

Over 100 people lined the Washington shore, watching as the kayak sailed slowly out from the beach and into the Pacific Ocean. The orange flames that licked upwards from the vessel blended into the burning sky as the sun slowly sank below the horizon, oblivious to the pain of those who watched it.

The sound of gunfire startled Scully out of her reverie. She looked to her right and spotted the seven men, rifles held aloft as they fired the second round into the sky. Bill, Charlie and Mordecai were wearing their full military dress while Lawrence and Edwin had obtained replicas of their Union army uniforms from the Civil War. At the center of the group stood Byers and Frohike, both in suits. Edwin had instructed them in how to handle the rifles so they could join the group in sending their friend off with a traditional three-volley salute. The men fired off the third and final round before lowering the weapons. Bill and Charlie, technically the only active members of the military, stepped forward from either side of the group and saluted before working together to lower the flag from the hastily-erected temporary flagpole. They folded it precisely then presented it to Byers and Frohike who accepted the folded fabric, swallowing hard as they did. Bill and Charlie saluted the two men, then turned, rejoined the group and waited.

Mulder, who had been somewhat awkwardly leading the proceedings, cleared his throat.

"Langly always joked that we had to play this at his funeral," he began, "and so this is how we're going to wish him goodbye. I hope somewhere he's laughing at us all." He reached over to an old, damaged Walkman someone had connected to a pair of cheap battery powered speakers. A few seconds later a wave of quiet laughter passed through the crowd as the opening chords from Monty Python's Galaxy Song drifted across the sand.

"That doesn't seem very appropriate," Maggie whispered in concern into Scully's ear. Scully smiled at her mother as Eric Idle's voice began speaking over the hum of movement around them.

"Actually I think it's perfect," she said, "the last thing he'd have wanted was everyone sat around listening to some slow funeral dirge."

"I once threatened him that I'd convince everyone to send him off to Bye Bye Baby by the Bay City Rollers," Mulder added, joining the two of them by the water's edge, "he countered by threatening to have that awful Celine Dion thing from Titanic played for me. Considering the odds were generally in his favour that I'd go first, I decided to call a truce." Scully laughed.

"I still think the songs you asked us to play at your funeral were lovely," Maggie said to Scully, wiping away a tear that may or may not have been caused by the cold wind, "of course now I know what I know I do suspect there may have been a hidden meaning in one or two."

"Choosing songs with titles like 'We'll Meet Again' and 'When Will I See You Again?', how could you possibly think she might have been dropping hints?" Mulder deadpanned. Scully swatted at him as Maggie laughed.

"What will you do now?" Maggie asked her daughter as the three of them walked along the water's edge and away from the large group that was already beginning to dissipate. Many of the vampires were already vanishing into the tree line, happy to return to living their old lives in the shadows. Scully and Mulder waved goodbye to Tim and Leyla who planned to travel down to Mexico and explore the ruins there for a few months. A new pyramid had recently been discovered and was believed to be the lost city of Xitaclan. Tim had once studied the Ancient Mayans and was desperate to get down there and see the site for himself.

"I'm not sure," Scully replied as she turned back and kicked at some pebbles. "Edwin has given us his cottage a few miles north of here. It's off-the-grid, hidden away in the forest. I guess we'll just try and find some sense of normality, let things settle down a bit in the world and figure out what we're going to do with our futures."

"Dana's been invited to join the Council," Mulder cut in, "she's the youngest vampire ever asked. Edwin's so thrilled you'd think she was his own daughter."

"That's wonderful," Maggie smiled as Scully shot a glare at Mulder, "will you join?"

"I haven't decided yet, I'm not sure what I could offer them," Scully replied.

"No, I can't begin to imagine what someone with the power to see the most logical course of action in any situation could possibly offer a group tasked with watching out for the vampire community," Mulder said casually. Scully just rolled her eyes.

"I'm sure you'll find your calling soon," Maggie said gently, "and you've got plenty of time. Why don't you just take some time and get to know yourself?"

"I think that's a great idea," Mulder said, slipping his arm around Scully's waist.

"Mom!" Bill's voice called out from behind them, "Matthew's getting tired, we need to be on the road."

"I'm coming," Maggie called back. The three of them made their way toward the patch of grass where half a dozen cars were parked. Tara was already loading a sleeping Matthew into the back seat. This time the goodbyes were shorter. Mulder and Scully had already agreed to visit the family in San Diego for a birthday barbecue in less than a month. They waved goodbye to Bill's Jeep as it bounced over the wet grass on it's way back home to Southern California, almost a full day's drive. Scully had been surprised that Bill had been willing to drag the family up for the funeral but he had insisted on coming. He had driven their mother up as well now that she was temporarily living with him. Baltimore had been mostly destroyed during the brief phase two activation, her house along with it.

Scully felt a presence at her left shoulder and turned to see Edwin, Gideon and Harrison standing there.

"Doing OK?" Gideon asked.

"Yeah, I think we're good," Scully nodded, all of them turning toward the water where the burning barge could no longer be seen. Byers, Suzanne and Frohike had slipped away without saying goodbye. She knew the two men were still struggling to come to terms with the loss of their closest friend. She had assurances from Suzanne that she was taking care of them and would get in touch when the time was right. For now Scully trusted her to manage the situation by herself, knowing she would reach out if it was needed.

"How's the cottage?" Edwin asked with a smile.

"Perfect," Scully beamed, "we're just starting to get everything the way we'd like it."

"Yeah, got the sports channels working and the Playstation hooked up," Mulder added.

"All the important stuff right?" laughed Mordecai as he joined them.

"Damn straight," Mulder agreed, giving the man a high five. Scully caught Gideon's eye and the two of them exchanged a sympathetic smirk. Harrison was a sports fan too.

"You've moved back to the house near Providence I hear?" Mulder asked Gideon.

"Yes, it's a favourite place of ours," Harrison nodded, "and it's close enough that Edwin can visit often." Edwin had already returned to his apartment in Washington D.C. and his job at the hospital where he had first met Scully as a patient, having returned to work from his extended leave of absence. "Mordecai's coming to stay with us for a few weeks too."

"I fancied a change of scenery," Mordecai said with a smile.

"You'll have to visit soon as well," Gideon added pointedly, "we're going to miss you guys."

"If we keep having to go visit people we won't have any time at our own place," Mulder grumbled.

"Serves you right for making so many friends," Edwin smiled. Mulder stared at him thoughtfully. He'd never really had many friends. Sure he'd played with the neighbourhood kids when he was little, but even back then his family were considered a little aloof and standoffish. When Sam had disappeared the knocks on the door asking him out to toss a ball around had steadily dried up; parents didn't want their children associating with the Mulders anymore. Not when so much suspicion still shrouded the family.

Going to college in England had been something of a reprieve, no one there knew him. He had still avoided making too many close friends, preferring to spend his free time in the library or occasionally sharing a secret glass of whiskey with one of his professors. Of course there was Phoebe and her little circle of harpies, but he had thankfully never counted any of them among his friends and the few acquaintances he had kept over the years slowly vanished once he moved back to the States. As an adult he could count the friends he had made and kept on a single hand, but now... Now he had lists of them. It hit him that there was something tragic about the way he had so many more friends now that he was dead than he ever had when he was alive. There was something very Fox Mulder about that. He decided he didn't care.

"Well, I suppose we'd better make a move," Gideon was saying as Edwin frowned curiously at Mulder who just smiled beneficently back at him, "long drive ahead."

"You're car sharing?" Scully asked.

"Van sharing actually," Edwin explained, "I've got a lot of stuff I want to take to D.C. rather than leave it clogging up your new place. These guys all agreed to keep me company on the journey."

"Until he gets sick of us and kicks us out," Harrison laughed, leaning in to kiss Gideon firmly on the lips. Edwin groaned.

"Pray for me," he muttered to Scully who giggled quietly behind her hand, even Mordecai looked amused.

"Come here," Gideon grinned, pulling her into a huge hug, "don't be a stranger OK?"

"You two," Scully replied, suddenly feeling emotional at saying goodbye to Gideon. She counted him and Harrison as her brothers now. Since she had settled into her vampire life she had never known living apart from them.

"Our door is always open," Harrison told her, pulling her away from Gideon and into his own arms, "remember that."

"Ours too," Scully assured him.

"May I?" Edwin interrupted, taking Scully's arm and leading her a few paces from the others who all made a point of tuning out their conversation. "You'll think about the Council's offer?"

"Yes, I'm already thinking about it," she assured him.

"Good. You'd be a valuable asset." He paused and shifted, reaching into his pocket. "There's something I meant to give you much sooner but with everything that's happened…" He handed her a small pin that shone with a single blue gem. "I have had one of these made for Thea and Gideon," he explained, "I realised that I had never had one made for you." Scully took the pin and held it to the light, watching the light bounce off the stone.

"It's beautiful."

"I want you to always remember that I consider you my daughter, just like I consider Thea and Gideon my children. If there is anything you need, I will always be there for you." Scully felt like she might cry but Edwin pulled her into a hug. "Don't tell the others," he whispered into her ear, "but I think you might be my favourite."

"Hey!" Gideon called across from the group, "how is that fair?"

"In fairness she did save the world," Harrison interjected.

"Whose side are you on?"

"Oh great, a lover's tiff, just what I need," Edwin sighed as they made their way to the van that was parked on the grass and all four men climbed inside.

"Good luck," Scully called after them as the van pulled away.

"I think you might need it," Mulder added and they heard Edwin laugh as the van rolled away down the dirt track toward the highway.

Scully and Mulder stood and watch the dust cloud settle behind them for several minutes.

"Ready?" he asked after a while. Skinner and Thea were the only ones remaining, both of them sitting by the water's edge with Thea's head resting on his shoulder as they watched the sunset. Thea had a small place near San Francisco but they planned to remain in the Oregon forest for a few days, exploring and hunting in peace.

"Yeah," Scully agreed, following Mulder into the trees and breaking into a run. Neither of them went at full pace, they simply enjoyed running beside one another. Scully sprang up the trees to run higher up in the canopy as she preferred. Occasionally she swung down and used her arms to almost throw herself to the next tree, a move she had only recently started working on. Mulder had threatened to start calling her Spider-Woman when he saw it. She teased him in return for his insistence on staying low to the ground.

It only took them an hour to travel north to the tiny, secluded cottage they called their own. Scully jumped up to clear the leaves off the twin solar panels Edwin had installed on the roof while Mulder quickly looked over the back-up generator outside. All was as they had left it. The house was invisible from the sky and all but impossible to reach on foot by humans thanks to a sheer drop off on the ground, hidden in the trees. The only way to reach it would be to abseil down an overgrown knife edge of rock. Mulder waited by the front door for Scully then held the door open for her.

"Ladies first," he smiled. Scully grinned, something evil flickering in her eyes. Mulder didn't have chance to react before she pounced, throwing him backwards into the room where he landed on a rug in front of the open fireplace. Scully knelt over him.

"Welcome home," she grinned, leaning down for a kiss. Mulder used her motion to flip them so he was on top and grinned back.

"You know," her murmured, playing with her hair, "we don't have to go anywhere."

"I'd realised that."

"We don't even have to go out for supplies, or to work."

"I'd realised that too."

"Whatever will we do to fill the time?"

"Well Edwin left us a well-stocked library," Scully began, trying not to laugh and failing. "I'm sure we'll think of something." Mulder smiled back at her, reaching to pull something out of his back pocket, hiding it in his hand.

"You know, I don't think your mother's very happy about these living arrangements," he told her.

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, her youngest daughter living in sin. I mean, it's not very Catholic is it?"

"I'm sure she'll get over it."

"Or I could, you know…" he flipped open the ring box, "make an honest woman out of you." Scully stared into the box, at the ring that reflected the last wisps of light from the sky back into her eyes.

"That's… That's my grandmother's ring. Mulder…"

"Dana Scully," he began, climbing off to kneel beside her as she struggled to a sitting position, "will you marry me?"

Scully stared at the ring, finally dragging her eyes up to meet Mulder's

"Yes."

Mulder took the ring out from the box and slipped it onto her finger.

"From this day forward," he smiled.

"Until death us do part," Scully replied. They looked at one another then fell about laughing.

That night as the moon silently rose over the cottage the only light that could be seen in the forest was the warm glow of a fire through cosy windows; and the only sound that could be heard was laughter.

**THE END**


	56. Epilogue

_Epilogue_

_Some time later_

"There's something I need to show you," she'd whispered as the afternoon sun began to descend. Mulder had looked at her confused, he still struggled to read her thoughts clearly but it was obvious that she was also blocking him out right now. He'd simply nodded and the two of them had left the house in silence, running south through the forests of Washington and Oregon and along deserted highways as twilight came and went and darkness settled on the landscape. She loved running with him like this; all those years she'd spent worrying about them being trapped, becoming stagnant, never moving forward - those memories seemed an eternity past. She supposed that one day they would be.

Eventually they reached California, Scully led them the final hundred miles or so to a small town Mulder remembered, it wasn't all that long since they had last visited it together but he remembered it now through hazy human memories.

"Why are we here?" he asked cautiously. She didn't answer, leading him instead to the house she had visited and then stepping onto the path that led up into the trees. He hesitated, pausing at the edge of the sidewalk. She turned back from the path and was beside him a moment later.

"I'm not sure I can go back," he told her quietly.

"Do you trust me?" she asked.

"Always".

"Then trust me now."

He swallowed hard and together they set off up the path. It was only a few seconds walk once they passed the tree line and soon they were stood in the clearing. It was silent there and together they waited, their hands silently seeking one anothers. Together they heard the whispers begin, felt the stilling of the air and saw it slowly shift to blue as the stars glittered overhead. Then they saw them. The children appeared all around fading in from the darkness, sometimes individually, sometimes in groups. Mulder gasped as the noises found his ears, nursery rhymes being chanted, songs being sung, giggling, laughing. The sounds of happy children surrounded them. He turned to Scully.

"I can hear them," he breathed. She nodded, a sad smile crossing her face. "I couldn't hear them last time," he whispered to no one in particular. Letting go of her hand, he walked forwards through the playing children, eyes scanning the crowd.

"Fox!" He heard her call out before he saw her, turning to see the form of his sister shimmering in the night air as she ran toward him.

"Samantha?" he whispered back, seeing her face light up in a huge smile. "Samantha!" he shouted, running toward her and gathering her in his arms. Where before she had felt cold and insubstantial, now she felt exactly right and defined in his arms. He could even smell her hair, the scent bringing back long-forgotten memories of a peach tiled bathroom in Massachusetts. Samantha twisted to look up at her brother.

"Fox," she began, smiling so brightly that the rest of the world faded into darkness around her.

"I can hear you," Mulder said, his voice still full of wonder. "How?"

"You've crossed over now, you're more like us" she told him quietly.

"You mean we're both dead?" he asked, sadness lingering in his voice.

"Not quite silly!" she laughed, punching him playfully in the shoulder, "you're like us, not alive but not dead either. It's like we're between the two and because we're the same, we can hear one another."

"Can you come with me?" Mulder asked.

"No," Samantha told him sadly, I can only exist in the starlight in these special places. But there's lots of them and whenever there's a clear night, we can see each other." Mulder looked into his sister's eyes.

"That'll do for me," he told her with a smile. He turned and led Samantha back to where Scully was still standing at the edge of the clearing watching them.

"Hi Samantha," Scully said quietly, unsure of what to say.

"How did you know?" Mulder asked her.

"It was when I had run off to Canada one time," she said quietly. "I came across a clearing that seemed strange so I stopped and waited. Then the children appeared and I knew that it was the same thing you had described to me, only I could hear them which surprised me. I asked around and a few others had experienced the same thing in different places. When I asked Edwin he guessed the reason I had heard them when you couldn't. I'm sorry I didn't tell you this earlier but I wanted to show you instead and I had to wait for a clear night." The three of them looked up at the crystal clear sky filled with stars.

"Thank you," he whispered, briefly letting go of Samantha's hand to place his on either side of Scully's face and kiss her. After a few moments she pushed him away.

"Go," she told them, "talk." Mulder looked at Samantha and they smiled. He turned away and began walking through the clearing, holding Samantha's hand as they spoke. Scully took a deep breath and turned, walking slowly back down the path. She looked up at the clear sky and watched the constellations above her, far more of them now than she had ever seen with her human eyes. Fox and Samantha's time together had been cruelly cut short, she thought to herself. He had suffered so much pain over the years trying to find her and worrying about what had happened. Now they both existed in this new, unearthly world she had discovered and they would have eternity together as long as the skies were clear. It seemed as if the world had finally granted Fox Mulder a pardon. She smiled at the thought and turned back toward the clearing where a blue light shone faintly through the trees. A light that had guided her too in her darkest moments. Mulder would be a long time but she had eternity waiting for her, there was no hurry. With one final glance at the woods she turned away and began to run north, back to the house they would share together for as long as they chose. Back to their home.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note:<strong>_

_You didn't really think I'd leave without saying goodbye did you? First of all, an enormous thank you to everyone who has ever read this story, left reviews, emailed comments to me, contacted me on instagram & Twitter - just thank you to each and every one of you. Writing fic is a huge release for me so thinking that people are really out there getting enjoyment from them is just the most incredible feeling. Thank you also to my beta readers. I've had several throughout the course of the story but an extra special thank you does out to Keva who took over many months ago and has honestly been the best beta reader I could have asked for. _

_This story is now officially over but I won't say these characters will never resurface. I love Edwin, Gideon, Harrison, and the others so much that I doubt I'll ever truly be able to say goodbye to them. For now however they will be taking a rest while I work on new stories. The first of these - Messenger - has its prologue up on Ao3 now. I'd really appreciate it if you could go and take a look if you enjoyed this; my username there is Danafox1013. Thank you once again for seeing this through to the end, I know for some of you it has been a very long journey. Know that you are appreciated, each and every one of you. I hope you've enjoyed this final chapter and that you enjoy whatever you go on to read next, whether it be something by me or by another fic author (if you're looking for recommendations, I suggest Aloysia Virgata and BeshterAngelus). Until next time, never give up on a miracle._


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